Vol. 516 No. 6
268 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance when the public service benchmarking body to cover pay and jobs in the public service is to be established; if it will include representatives of consumers of public services; and, if not, the reason in this regard. [7671/00]
The Programme for Prosperity and Fairness provides for the establishment of a public service benchmarking body to undertake a fundamental examination of the pay of public service employees vis-à-vis the private sector. This body is to be established within three months of the commencement of the pay agreement, that is, by 31 December 2000. The benchmarking body will be asked to produce its report and recommendations by the end of 2002, to allow the parties to discuss the implementation of its recommendations in the context of any successor to the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.
The programme provides that the "composition of the Benchmarking Body will be discussed and agreed between the parties". Now that the programme has been ratified by the ICTU, my officials will arrange an early meeting with the public service committee to discuss the composition of the body. The composition of the body will need to reflect a range of interests and experience in this complex area but the exact size and composition of the body must await these discussions.
