THE GOVERNMENT may have to look again at the issue of paying incremental pay increases for staff in the public service next year, Minister of State Brian Hayes has stated.
The Government is expected to pay out between €250 million and €300 million in the year ahead in increments for public service staff who are due to move up a further point on their pay scale.
Speaking on Today with Pat Kennyon RTÉ Radio yesterday, Mr Hayes said the issue of increments for staff in the public service "may well have to be revisited" by the Government next year. Such a move could have significant implications for the future of the Croke Park agreement on public service pay and reform.
On Monday night on the Frontlineprogramme on RTÉ television, Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte said public service trade unions had signalled to the Government they would regard the non-payment of increments to public service staff as a breach of the deal.
He said the unions had “made it very plain to us that they would regard freezing increments as an attack on Croke Park”.
“We are deriving such a major programme of public service reform at the moment, designed to make huge contributions in savings – something like €3.5 billion on the pay bill alone between now and 2015 – that to invite difficulties with trade unions rather than work with them to implement badly needed reforms and changes would be the wrong decision.”
However, Mr Rabbitte said he would not rule out returning to the question of increments with the agreement of the trade unions in the year ahead.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore yesterday defended the Croke Park deal and said the reforms promised as part of it were being achieved. He said: “If you make an agreement you keep it.”
Under the Croke Park deal the Government guaranteed it would not cut pay again for staff in the public service or introduce compulsory redundancies in return for co-operation with a wide-ranging reform programme.
