Results 6,881-6,900 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: We would still have taken the question. The Deputy said there were nuances and complexities, and there are very real ones, such as the example I gave of schools. Does he suggest they should open for only four days a week? This is an issue that would benefit from social dialogue. We need to put a new structure in place to facilitate a full dialogue involving civic society, with employers,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Reform Review (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: I acknowledge the extraordinary response of our public servants and their organisations to the circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic. We can all be proud of the great work that is under way during this unprecedented public health emergency. A number of reforms that have been introduced under the Government’s public service reform agenda, such as the build-to-share ICT...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: I am aware of the FourDayWeek campaign led by Fórsa, ICTU and other civil society groups. Many of the implications of this proposal need to be carefully considered for the entire labour force and not simply in the public service. Indeed, any movement by the public service in isolation could have serious consequences for small and medium-sized businesses struggling in the face of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Staff (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: I am unsure whether the Deputy is advocating that people would work for four days and be paid for five days or would work for four days and be paid for four days. In any event, there are real consequences for key parts of our public services. Let us consider teachers for example. Is Deputy Boyd Barrett suggesting that schools would only open for four days per week and not for five? We...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy. He made some additional points. He wants every Deputy to be paid the average industrial wage and he is perfectly entitled to hold that policy. I do not know if he would also apply that policy to all other public servants earning as much as or more than Deputies. Perhaps that is his policy; I simply do not know. We have a system whereby we do not set our own pay and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: As the Deputy is aware, section 12 of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013 obliges me to submit a written report on the operation, effectiveness and impact of FEMPI legislation to the Oireachtas before 30 June each year.  As part of those reports, I consider whether or not any of the provisions of the relevant Acts continue to be necessary having regard to the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy. It is fair to point out that the emphasis of the restoration process to date has been on low and middle-income earners within the public service. By 1 October, people earning up to €70,000 will have had their pay fully restored. That is a significant milestone. There are further measures in the FEMPI Acts, to which I have alluded. A process is set out in the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: In overall terms, it is very important that we manage the public service pay and pensions bill, which is of the order of €20 billion and which represents approximately one third of the State's overall current expenditure. This needs to be managed in an affordable and responsible manner. That will inform and guide my approach with what remains to be done with regard to the FEMPI...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: What the Deputy is saying is that politicians should decide their own pay. I do not believe that is a good system. I do not believe that, in any other walk of life, people get to decide their own pay. There is a pay increase that people can decide to either accept or reject. Apart from the 2% increase, which the Deputy says he is gifting back to the State, what I hear him say, in essence,...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: We have had the full round of questions but I am happy to come back in.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: Deputy Boyd Barrett got an extra round so, to be fair, I will take a further moment. I assume he is suggesting that legislation would be introduced to set politicians' pay, and then we would be the only body I am aware of that would have the power to, in essence, set its own pay. I hear the Deputy talk about a fund that his party uses to distribute to worthy causes, and I have no doubt they...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: That is a view the Deputy is perfectly entitled to hold and, as a Member of this House, he is perfectly entitled to bring forward whatever legislation he thinks is appropriate to empower the Dáil to set its own rates of pay. I do not think that would be a better system. The system we have is completely independent and beyond our direct control. We are linked to a certain grade within...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: The Deputy has characterised this once again as politicians giving themselves a pay rise. That is misleading and he knows it is misleading. It is stoking up the anger that is undoubtedly there. The reality is that the system which is in place takes it out of the hands of politicians, in essence, and I think that is the right thing to do. The Deputy might think it would be a great thing to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: What is it?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: To be clear, if we were to repeal the suite of FEMPI legislation tomorrow then certain former public servants on quite high pensions would have the pension reductions that were imposed on them reversed immediately. In addition, all very senior public and civil servants, including politicians, would have the cuts that were imposed reversed overnight. We need to deal with this issue in a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: I have put on the record on a number of occasions as Minister my admiration for the work of our public servants. We now have approximately 340,000 public servants, over one third of whom work in our health service. The work they have put in over the last number of months has been immense, against huge adversity. We are doing the right thing as a Government in honouring the agreement that...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: I thank the Deputy for his question. The first point to note is that the 1 October adjustments to pay in the public service form part of the broader ongoing process of unwinding FEMPI reductions which was negotiated with public service trade unions and delivered through successive collective agreements, from the Lansdowne Road agreement to the current public service stability agreement. ...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Sector Pay (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: In essence what the Deputy is proposing is that the link between the pay of a Deputy and the principal officer grade in the Civil Service be broken. I am not sure what alternative system the Deputy is proposing to carve out the pay of politicians. It is up to each individual to make whatever decision he or she wishes to make. I am forgoing the increase because it is the right thing to do....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Ministerial Advisers (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: I should point out that special advisers are appointed under section 11 of the Act. It would be helpful to set out what the functions are. The Act provides that a special adviser shall assist the relevant Minister by providing advice and by "monitoring, facilitating and securing the achievement of Government objectives that relate to the Department" and "performing such other functions as...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Ministerial Advisers (29 Sep 2020)

Michael McGrath: Ultimately the Government will be judged by its performance on the key issues: managing the pandemic; ultimately bringing about economic recovery; and on addressing the pre-Covid challenges. Those challenges are still very much there and will become even more acute if we do not address them. They include the housing crisis, the long-term structural reforms needed in our health service and...