Public sector pay rise calls to be discussed this week

Mounting demands for pay rises in the public sector will be discussed between the Government and trade union representatives this week as the fall-out from a special Garda pay deal continues.

Workers’ representatives want a new agreement accelerated and are demanding equal benefits after the Government last week caved in to Garda threats of a strike and agreed a €40m package.

Ministers insist that agreements with workers must remain within the agreed terms of the Lansdowne Road public sector deal, which runs until 2018. Unions say the Labour Court-recommended €40m Garda deal was outside of that.

Health Minister Simon Harris reiterated that the Lansdowne Road deal was staying in place. The Government had a “limited pot of money”, he said, echoing remarks by Taoiseach Enda Kenny last week. The Garda deal would have to come from within existing resources, Mr Harris told RTÉ’s The Week in Politics.

Up to €290m has been set aside for pay adjustments next year under Lansdowne Road. The near-€40m deal for gardaí, including better rent allowance, a special pre-shift fee, and a leave payment, will be an additional spend.

Government officials, ahead of gardaí voting on the deal today, still could not say at the weekend where the extra money would come from. Department of Public Expenditure sources said it would be paid through a “whole of Government approach”, including from departments other than the Department of Justice.

A Department of Justice source added: “Something, somewhere will have to give. We’re going to have to find it.”

Three developments this week will set the scene as the Government scrambles to respond to the pay demands.

Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe will instruct the Government’s Public Service Management section to meet with the Public Services Committee of ICTU, the umbrella group for trade unions. The ICTU committee includes leaders from 15 different unions.

Trade union leader Tom Geraghty, who sits on the committee, yesterday told RTÉ there was no chance of Lansdowne Road running its full term and the proposed pay deal for gardaí was a “game-changer”.

A meeting between the two sides is expected to take place this week, the minister’s spokeswoman said last night.

Separately, the new public sector pay commission will also have its first meeting this week. The commission, set to feed into discussions about what deal succeeds Lansdowne Road, is required to report to Government by the middle of next year.

Fianna Fáil’s Dara Calleary said the commission must address the clamour for pay restoration quickly.