Pay commission under pressure on first day to get results

The new public sector pay commission will have its first formal meeting today, but is already facing calls to hasten matters and to have recommendations by the new year.

Commission chairman, Kevin Duffy, will meet today with the other six members of the group, as pressure continues for workers’ pay rises, on the back of a proposed, €40m garda package.

Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe says the commission must report back by the mid-2017 on public pay, and that its recommendations will feed into the successor to the Lansdowne Road Agreement, the deal with trade unions, which is scheduled to run until late 2018.