Deal reached on public service pay

The new public service pay agreement has delivered on the Government’s vow to ensure pay restoration from the bottom up, with hikes ranging from 7% for a worker earning €30,000 to just 1% for someone earning €100,000.

Under the deal, which extends the Haddington Road Agreement from 2016 to 2018, most public servants will see their pay rise by €2,000 by the end of 2017. As predicted, the wage restoration will be achieved through a combination of adjustments to the public service pension levy and a partial reversal of the 2010 public service pay cuts.

The first phase, which begins on January 1, 2016, will see the pension levy threshold — the amount above which the levy is payable — increase to €24,750 from the current level of €15,000.