Budget 2017: No change to public sector pay plans - Donohoe

The Government has no plans to change the structure or pace of public service pay restoration, Paschal Donohoe has said.

The Minister for Public Expenditure said the existing arrangements formed the centrepiece of the Lansdowne Road agreement.

In his budget speech Mr Donohoe announced that €290 million would be provided in 2017 to meet public service pay costs.

There was no money allocated for additional rises next year over and above those allowed under the deal. This was despite growing calls from public service groups for an acceleration in the pace of wage restoration.

The €290 million allocated for increases in public pay costs is in keeping with the amount required in 2017 to implement the measures set out in the Lansdowne Road agreement. This will see public service personnel earning less than €65,000 receive a payment of €1,000 next September.

For those earning above that threshold the deal provides for the phased restoration of the pay cuts imposed in 2013 under the previous Haddington Road agreement to begin next Spring.

However the Lansdowne Road deal is already facing significant pressure with various public service unions calling for the existing timetable for pay restoration to be advanced. This is particularly in the light of both a growing economy and the larger than anticipated increases awarded to staff in Luas and Dublin Bus in recent months .

The Government is already facing potential industrial unrest from gardaí and second level teachers.

However Mr Donohoe emphatically ruled out any acceleration of pay restoration.

In his speech the Minister acknowledged “the demands that exists in the area of public pay”. However he said that “public pay restoration must be managed in a way that is affordable for all: for those working in our public services and those who depend on these services and depend on future investment in more frontline staff and resources”.

The Minister again announced the establishment of a Public Service Pay Commission. He said the Commission would report by the middle of next year and advise on how financial emergency legislation, which underpinned the public service pay cuts since 2009, would be unwound.

He said the report of the Commission would facilitate talks between the Government, public sector unions and other stakeholders on the successor to the Lansdowne Road agreement which is due to expire in 2018.

Speaking on Tuesday night at a post-budget press conference, Mr Donohoe said the Commission would assist the Government in its commitment to the orderly and financially affordable unwinding of financial emergency legislation which underpinned public service pay cuts.

He said this had to be carried out at a pace that was “affordable to everybody and financially sustainable” .