Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

11. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will report to Dáil Éireann on the proposed public service pay commission; the parameters for such a commission and the timeframe of its work programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31007/16]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I warmly welcome the appointment of Mr. Kevin Duffy as chairman of the public service pay commission. The Minister has published the commission's terms of reference on his website. I would like him to expand on that and tell us the kind of resources he will make available to the commission in terms of the economic and industrial expertise it will need. Does he envisage it having a role similar to that of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, in advising his Department?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The establishment of a public service pay commission to examine pay levels across the public service is a commitment in the confidence-and-supply agreement and programme for partnership Government. In July, the Government agreed, in principle, to the establishment of a public service pay commission. In line with this decision, my Department had to conduct a public consultation about the role and methodology of the commission. In the aftermath, I brought proposals to the Government and they were agreed yesterday. I thank the Deputy for acknowledging the role of Mr. Kevin Duffy in chairing the commission. Mr. Duffy, as a former chairman of the Labour Court, will bring a strong understanding of these matters to his work with the commission. He has been acknowledged as an impartial figure with great expertise in the area.

My plan is to appoint a further six members to the commission in the coming days. The role of the commission will be advisory, particularly as it is not appropriate to outsource to another body negotiations on future pay and conditions of public servants. I expect that the commission will provide an initial report to the Government by the second quarter of next year and the broad terms of reference of the commission, as the Deputy has seen, are to provide input to the Government on how we can deliver the affordable unwinding of the FEMPI legislation. The terms of reference lay out a number of areas in which it can engage regarding: the evolution of pay trends; the comparison of pay trends at home and abroad; and the quality and health of our national finances.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My colleague, Deputy Paul Murphy, referred to the justified case that is being made by my trade union, ASTI, the Garda Síochána, nurses and doctors and a growing list of public service workers who feel that the Government has been very remiss in not just unwinding but getting rid of FEMPI and the whole approach relating thereto. The Minister will be under significant time pressure when he meets the Committee on Budgetary Oversight, which he came before a few weeks ago. He will need to have arrangements in place for both the post-Lansdowne Road agreement era and spending over and above the €300 million he expended this year. There is a time factor. What does the Minister intend to do about pensions? There has been some adverse comment about some of the lump sums in the highly-paid top echelons of the public service and the fact that people in the House have restoration, while the workers to whom I referred, and the other workers, do not have the same restoration.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that we are dealing with some serious challenges in our public services. We must acknowledge that more than 20 unions have signed up to the Lansdowne Road agreement. As a result of this, more than 200,000 civil and public servants are covered by the agreement. While I understand and respect the Deputy's role in raising the issue of those who are outside the Lansdowne Road agreement, I must, in my efforts to deal with the matter, also respect the large number of people who are covered by it. In the initial guidance I provided to the public pay commission, which I look forward to meeting soon, I referenced pensions and asked that they be taken into account in any input it provides to the Government.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister will appoint the six members. I hope that they will be representatives of the trade union movement, industry and the public service in order to provide the kind of background that is required.

What is the Minister's opinion on the cost and continuing work of the body? I referred to the role of IFAC. The Minister is not putting the new body on a statutory basis. Will it continue? It is outside the industrial relations machinery. Has the Minister prioritised for it the aim of getting rid of FEMPI and restoring public service pay, given the fact that our citizens in the public service are generally low paid and bore the brunt of the banking crash? The CPSU trade union has cautiously welcomed the commission's establishment, but it mentioned that we needed to be cognisant of the fact that the cost of living in Ireland was one of the highest in the EU.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Regarding the Deputy's observation on the need for a representative panel on the pay commission, I do not want to put together a group of people whose job it is to represent any individual sector. Were I to do so, I would be undermining the fabric of the organisation. However, I am committed to putting together a panel to assist Mr. Duffy in his work that will be diverse and broadly based. In appointing Mr. Duffy to this body, I hope that I have signalled my intention to put people in place who have a broad-based appreciation of the challenges to which Deputy Broughan referred.

As to the question of the body being on an administrative footing, it is my intention that the commission will be non-statutory. I am cognisant of the timeframe that the Deputy outlined and I want to have the body in place as soon as the consultation process is complete.

The commission is meant to make an input into the unwinding of FEMPI, but that unwinding must take place in a way that is affordable for everyone.