Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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217. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the estimated cost of introducing a living wage set at €13.85 per hour for public and civil service workers. [23762/23]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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In relation to the civil service, for which my Department holds detailed data, the suggested Living Wage at €13.85 per hour based on the civil service 35 hour standard net working week equates to an annual salary of approximately €25,294. Detailed data on civil service staff indicates that less than 0.1% of staff (FTE) in the civil service are on salary points less than the suggested Living Wage.

Those currently on an annual salary of less than €25,294 may be receiving remuneration in excess of the suggested living wage through additional premium payments in respect of shift work or atypical working hours. In addition, these salary scales progress to the suggested Living Wage and above through normal incremental progression.

The current public service agreement is Building Momentum - A New Public Service Agreement 2021-2023. The pay measures in the extended agreement amount to total headline adjustments of 9.5% over the lifetime of the Agreement. The extended Agreement is weighted towards those at lower incomes headline increases of approximately 12.5% for the lowest paid public servants. This would include all those earning less than €25,294 per annum.

The public service information sought in this request would require detailed data on the position of staff on each salary scale across the public service and details of the standard working hours per week for each individual grade. This data is not held in my Department.