Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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69. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his timescale for winding down the financial emergency measures in the public interest legislation; the cost involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1917/16]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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From the period 2009 to 2013 the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) Acts introduced pay reduction measures. These measures, together with the Public Service Pension Reduction implemented in January 2011, are estimated to have resulted in over €2.2bn in direct reductions in public service remuneration and pensions. 

It is not possible, within the fiscal space currently available to Government and the requirement to manage public expenditure in accordance with the EU's Stability and Growth Pact, to reverse €2.2bn in FEMPI measures in one year. To do so would contravene EU Fiscal rules and reverse the hard won progress made in rescuing the economy from the financial collapse which it so recently faced.

The Government has now, through the negotiation and agreement of a financially prudent public service agreement on pay and related issues, provided for a gradual unwinding of the FEMPI measures as they apply to public servants. The terms of this agreement, the Lansdowne Road Agreement, are being implemented under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2015 with effect from 1 January 2016 at a full year cost of €844m to 2018. Provision has also been made for an amelioration of the PSPR for public service pensioners at an additional full year cost of €90m in 2018. This approach has also enabled additional resources to be assigned for the ongoing recruitment of additional front line public service staff such as Gardaí, Teachers and Health professionals to support the delivery of our vital public services.  

Under section 12 of the FEMPI Act 2013, I am required to review the necessity of FEMPI legislation annually and cause a written report of my findings to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas. In that context, economic progress and fiscal consolidation in the years ahead will determine the scope and timing of the possible further scale-back or elimination of the financial emergency measures.