asked the Taoiseach if he will explain the difference in the salary scale being offered for the post of Director of Public Prosecutions as between male and female applicants.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Director of Public Prosecutions.
3.
The difference applies to professional positions generally, whether new or otherwise, in the Civil Service. It is being reduced in accordance with the equal pay provisions of the national agreements 1972 and 1974, to which the State, as employer, is party.
Would the Taoiseach accept that there is an element of discrimination in having a difference in these salaries?
Yes, but as I explained to the Deputy the position is that under the two agreements which I have mentioned this differential is being reduced. The procedure is that the Employer/Labour Conference national agreement, 1972, provided for the removal of 17½ per cent of the former differential from the 1st June, 1973, and the 1974 agreement for the removal of 33? per cent from the 1st of September, 1974, or for a different arrangement by mutual consent between the negotiating parties. Civil Service pay differentials were reduced under the agreements by 17½ per cent on the 1st of June, 1973, and will be further reduced by 50 per cent from the 1st of December, 1974.
Would the Taoiseach not agree that the phasing, such as he has outlined, would be generally acceptable where it was being applied to existing posts, but, where a new post is being created, surely it is a bad principle to start off with discrimination straightaway? Would not it be better, where a new post is being created, to have the salaries equal?
Apparently the pay and salary conditions apply to all posts; they are all governed by the existing arrangements. The position is that the Anti-Discrimination Pay Bill, 1974, provides for full parity by 31st December next year. In the meantime, I understand that any further phased reduction of the differential would fall to be negotiated within the terms of the national agreement under the Employer/Labour Conference.
I think the Taoiseach should have given a lead here.
Would the Taoiseach indicate if there will be an interview board to interview the candidates deemed to be eligible and would he indicate now who will be the members of that interview board?
As the Deputy will appreciate, that is a separate question. However, it is the intention to have an interview board. As the Deputy knows, the members of the board were specified in the Act and it will consist of certain named persons.