New civil servants earning €7,000 less than colleagues

A trade union representing low-paid civil servants has claimed new recruits are now earning up to €7,000 less than their lowest paid colleagues in some roles.

At the annual conference of the Civil Public and Services Union, general secretary Eoin Ronayne said it will take new recruits six years to reach €11.50 per hour, which is estimated to be the “living wage”.

“Many of these new state employees are third-level qualified and when they realise it will take over 18 years to get to the mid-€30,000s they head off to better opportunities,” said Mr Ronayne.

He added that new recruits find themselves working alongside the last members of staff to be employed in the same grade before the moratorium only to discover their annual pay is approximately €7,000 more.

“This is not only unfair but crazy in terms of building morale and motivating new recruits in a service where the average age of the clerical officer is now 47,” he said.

Despite the fact that the Lansdowne Road Agreement had favoured lower-paid workers, Mr Ronayne said member expectations were “at an all-time high given the strength of economic performance and the promises made by all hues of politicians in the election” and he warned that any new government must “speed up full pay and conditions restoration”.