Written answers

Tuesday, 23 February 2010

Department of Health and Children

Public Sector Pay

9:00 pm

Photo of Mary UptonMary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 187: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if persons at an equine centre (details supplied) should be exempt from public service pay cuts; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8883/10]

Photo of Barry AndrewsBarry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Cherry Orchard Integrated Youth Service, which is managed by the Cherry Orchard Equine Centre, receives grant-in-aid funding from the Children and Youth Services Development Unit of my Office via the City of Dublin Youth Service Board (CDYSB).

The Government's decision to reduce its payroll costs in various ways – principally by reducing the salaries paid to public servants and reducing the numbers employed – was deliberately designed to protect existing levels of public services and to provide a more sustainable payroll cost base into the future.

I understand that the CDYSB issued a notice to its grant aided youth services and projects signalling that the pay reduction for public servants under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Act 2009 might automatically apply to these projects/services. Grant aided voluntary youth organisations and services funded from the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (OMCYA) budget are not directly affected by the pay adjustments provided for under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009. These organisations and services are not public service bodies as defined in that Act and their employees are not public servants.

However, the level of funding being provided to the OMCYA has been reduced as part of the general efficiency savings for the youth sector provided for in the 2010 Budget and it is entirely appropriate that notwithstanding these reductions that OMCYA funded voluntary youth work providers take appropriate measures to ensure that they continue to provide the same level of service in 2010 as previously. It is the responsibility of each individual employer to decide exactly what mix of actions should be taken to achieve this goal, to take appropriate legal and other advice, to consult and inform its employees/trade unions as necessary and to manage the HR and industrial relations implications of its decisions.

The matter is currently being clarified with the City of Dublin Youth Services Board.

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