Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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37. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in view of his recent announcements in relation to budget 2015, his plans to restore public sector pay for those earning €35,000 per annum or less; and the improvements in pay and conditions that public sector workers earning €35,000 or less per annum may expect in 2014-2015. [42055/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Deputy will be aware that in seeking the most recent savings and reductions from the public service pay and pensions bill, public service employers and trade unions entered into negotiations and concluded a collective agreement, the Haddington Road Agreement. This three year Agreement, effective from July 2013, built upon and reaffirmed the the existing overall committments in the Public Service Agreement (Croke Park Agreement) including those in relation to lower paid public servants and sets the terms of pay in the public service until 2016.  The pay arrangements under that legislation were progressively structured so it is those on lower incomes who are least affected, with the highest reductions imposed on the highest paid. Significantly, the most recent pay reduction effected by the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013, was confined to those public servants on annual salaries of €65,000 or more only, and the core pay of almost 87% of public servants was not impacted by this pay reduction. 

As provided for in the Haddington Road Agreement, and subsequently legislated for in the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013, the rate of PRD on the €15,000 to €20,000 band of pay received in a year was reduced from 5% to 2.5% on 1 January 2014. This rate cut is worth €125 annually in gross terms to most public servants, with those taxed at the standard rate enjoying the greater gain in terms of take-home pay boost.

The public service unions have indicated their intention, should the State's financial circumstances permit, to lodge a pay claim next year.  If such a claim is made, the Government will of course have to consider it, in line with the prevailing fiscal position.  The legal position concerning the financial emergency legislation, which has underpinned the reductions to date, will also have to be addressed as part of putting in place more normal pay setting arrangements in the public service for the future.