Michael Noonan
Question:77 Mr. Noonan (Limerick East) asked the Minister for Finance if he will give details of the cost and phasing of all public pay commitments under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress in 1993 and 1994.
Written Answers. - Public Pay Commitments.
Details of the phasing arrangements in relation to the outstanding pay elements of the Programme for Economic and Social Progress are set out in the statement I made following a meeting with the public service unions on 17 January 1992. Copies of tha statement have been placed in the Oireachtas Library.
The statement indicates, on page 4, that the Exchequer pay bill will, mainly as a result of the commitments undertaken therein, rise by some £350 million in 1993.
At that stage, the two outstanding cost elements will be (i) the carryover cost (£70 million) in 1994, of removing the cash ceiling of £6.50 per week on the 1993 general round increase with effect from 1 December 1993 and, (ii) the cost (£115 million) of restoring the losses incurred by public servants in 1992 and 1993 due to the cash ceilings which applied to the general round increases up to 1 December in each of those years.
The commitment in relation to (ii), is as set out in the second last paragraph of my statement of 17 January last, which states, inter alia:—
In the context of the constraints mentioned above, the Government are prepared to have further discussions with Congress in 1993 and before the expiry of theProgramme for Economic and Social Progress, to agree a specific time-table for recoupment of the losses arising from the application of the ceilings of £5 and £6.50 per week at the earliest possible dates and, in any event not later than 1994, this timetable to reflect the situation then applying and the emerging budgetary position for 1994.