Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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125. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the issue of pay inequality in the public service will be addressed in budget 2019 (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39125/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020 (PSSA), provided that an examination of remaining salary scale issues in respect of post January 2011 recruits at entry grades would be undertaken within 12 months of the commencement of the Agreement, and on conclusion of this work the parties would discuss and agree how the issues might be addressed under the terms of the PSSA.

In accordance with the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017, I submitted a report to the Oireachtas on the 16th of March regarding remaining salary scale issues in respect of new entrant public servants. As detailed in the Report, the costs are annualised and an increment date of 1 January is assumed to give the full one year cost for over 60,500 staff identified as new entrants. However, increment dates across the year vary significantly by individual and sector while salary scales and the structure of such scales across the public service as they affect individuals is not consistent. The report also quantified the cost of a two point adjustment as approximately €200m and the potential benefit to the individual as €3,301 on average.

In recognition of this, since the publication of the report, my Department, in support of the discussions between the parties, has engaged in further work to assess and model the potential budgetary implications and impacts through phasing of the overall quantum.

Discussions on the issue with public service trade unions and representative associations, commenced in October 2017, with a further plenary meeting taking place on 27th of April last following the publication of the report.

Agreement was reached, on Monday 24th September, between the parties to the Public Service Stability Agreement on a measure which provides a pathway to addressing the concerns of those recruited to our public service since 2011 in a balanced and sustainable way. It provides a fair and affordable path to managing the €200m cost associated with the issue.

In general, the agreement provides for two separate interventions which will take place at point 4 and point 8 of pay scales. The practical effect of this is that for ‘new entrants’ the relevant points on the scale will be bypassed thereby reducing the time spent (by bypassing two increment points) on the scale for progression to the maximum point.

The cost of this measure during the remaining term of the PSSA is €75m (€27m in 2019 and €48m in 2020). The full cost of the measure based on current data and public service numbers (2017) will cost €190m out to 2026. It is estimated some 58% (35,750) of ‘new entrants’ will benefit from this measure in year 1 rising to 78% (47,750) by year 2.

The benefits under the measure will become effective from 1 March 2019, will be applied to each eligible new entrant as they reach the relevant scale points on their current increment date, and will be restricted to Parties adhering to the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020.