‘No more rises for six-figure salaries’

The Government has been criticised for allowing incremental pay increases for some public servants earning over €100,000.

The issue was raised in the Dáil yesterday by Independent TD Shane Ross.

He said the Croke Park Agreement on public service pay should be “re-opened” if public servants earning more than €100,000 were receiving increments.

He sought assurances from the Taoiseach that entitlement to increments would be removed from those earning six-figure salaries when the Croke Park deal was reviewed.

However, Enda Kenny gave no such assurances. “I understand that those at the very top do not get increments… but I’ll take note of what you say.”

The Taoiseach neglected to mention that his own press secretary had recently seen his salary increase by €3,500 to €119,795 under the increment system.

The highest earners in the public service, such as secretaries-general of government departments who earn up to €200,000, do not qualify for increments. However, a number of public servants earning in excess of €100,000 do, such as the Government press secretary.

About 3,000 public servants earning €70,000 or more qualify for the increments.

Mr Kenny was asked about this separately at a press conference but expressed no reservations about the situation.

Asked how he could justify pay rises for those earning above €70,000, he replied: “Well, as I said, the Croke Park Agreement is the Croke Park Agreement, the Programme for Government is the Programme for Government.”

He said the Coalition had recently received a report on the progress Croke Park was making which would be analysed by the relevant ministers.

“The minister for public expenditure and the minister for finance will meet and will bring together a joint reflection both on Croke Park and on the progress being made by departments... So when ministers bring back that to Cabinet, Cabinet will start the work and the process of dealing with the budget for 2013.”

Unions regard increments as being covered by Croke Park and would regard any effort to remove them as a breach of the agreement.

The majority of those who receive increments are at the lower end of the public service pay scale.