Vol. 505 No. 4
16 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Finance the progress, if any, made in formulating and implementing a policy on performance related pay in the public service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13854/99]
The Taoiseach, at a meeting with the social partners in July 1998, said that there was a need for a change in the way public service pay is managed in the period after the Partnership 2000 agreement and invited the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to participate in discussions on the future of public service pay determination and how, in that context, pay might be aligned more closely with performance.
The Public Services Committee of ICTU and representatives of the main public service employers have met on a number of occasions to discuss a range of issues including pay determination and the issue of relating pay to performance. The discussions are continuing.
My Department has commissioned a consultancy study on the issue which would look at approaches to pay determination in the public service internationally and in the private sector, and how the approaches identified could address the need for a new approach to public service pay determination in Ireland. The study will be completed by the end of July.
There has been precious little progress on this issue since the Minister entered office. Does he agree that implementation of a performance related pay system within the Civil Service is an essential part of the SMI process and that that process will go nowhere unless there is some means of assessing performance related pay? Will the Minister give an indication of the rank within the Civil Service at which he sees performance related pay applying? At present it applies at Assistant Secretary level. Is it intended that it will apply at a lower level in the future?
It is important to distinguish between two different, but interrelated, concepts. There have been ongoing discussions with the Civil Service unions for some time regarding a performance management system. Separately, last July when the Taoiseach addressed the plenary session of the social partners, he referred to performance related pay and getting out of the relativity problem which has bedevilled the public service for so long. We should soon be in a position to finalise our discussions with the Civil Service unions on a performance related system.
Performance related pay will have to be discussed in the context of the next national agreement. I do not underestimate the difficulties of coming up with a system for this. I read the comments made by some trade union leaders which pointed out some of the difficulties and I sympathise with them.
At what level does the Minister envisage performance related pay being instituted? I agree with what the Minister said but he gave a similar response 18 months ago and there has been very little progress made since then.
The negotiations with the trade unions on the performance management system started before I became Minister for Finance. The question as to the level performance at which related pay will apply will have to be discussed in the context of the next national agreement. We will see then if we can come up with an acceptable system. I do not underestimate the problems which will arise when trying to do this. The Taoiseach has put it on the agenda and everyone on the union side is for it in principle. Working out a way to do it will be a major task.
