Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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16. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has conducted an analysis of levels of low pay in the public service; his plans to address same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11690/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The terms, conditions and pay rates for public servants have traditionally been determined through collective bargaining processes with due regard to statutory provisions including the National Minimum Wage Act.  It is also worth noting, in the context of low pay, that one of the first actions of this Government on taking office was to restore the Minimum Wage rate to its pre-existing rate. More recently, the Government has established the Low Pay Commission to advise the Government on the appropriate rate of the National Minimum Wage and any decisions by Government in relation to that rate that  may impact on pay in the public service will be implemented accordingly.

While the fiscal emergency gave rise to the exceptional statutory reductions in pay imposed on public servants, collective bargaining has survived and has been highlighted by the concluding of difficult public service agreements including most recently, the Haddington Road agreement, by staff representatives and their public service employers.  The Deputy will also be aware of my intention to enter into discussions with the public sector unions and the representatives of public service pensioners on successor arrangements to the Haddington Road agreement. I would expect, as has been the case heretofore, that staff representatives will in these discussions address the issue of the lower paid in the public service. 

The Haddington Road agreement, underpinned by the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) Acts 2009-2013, sets the terms of pay in the public service until 2016.  The pay reductions imposed under the agreement have been progressive, thereby ensuring that reductions imposed impacted on low paid workers least and that higher reductions were imposed on the higher paid.  Significantly, the more recent  pay cuts applied to public servants under FEMPI 2013 apply only to those higher paid public servants on annual salaries of €65,000 or more. The core pay of 87% of the workers in the public service was not reduced by the legislation. 

In order to continue the recent encouraging evidence of progress in relation to the public finances, any amelioration in the impact of the Financial Emergency measures, and public service pay policy generally, will continue to have regard to our overall fiscal targets.  However, as provided for in the Haddington Road Agreement and subsequently legislated for in the FEMPI Act 2013, the rate of PRD on the €15,000 to €20,000 band of pay received in a year fell from 5% to 2.5% on 1 January 2014. This rate cut was worth €125 annually in gross terms to most public servants, with those taxed at the standard rate enjoying the greater gain in terms of an increase to take-home pay.