Vol. 572 No. 3
242 Mr. Gogarty asked the Minister for Finance when it is intended to pay female civil servants the moneys owed arising from the long running equal pay case made by 26 former clerical assistants in the CPSU, backdated to 1991 and relevant to 3,000 further civil servants who can claim pay back to 1997. [23231/03]
An agreement in principle has been reached with the CPSU to settle this equal pay claim on behalf of former clerical assistants. This agreement has yet to be finalised between the legal representatives of both sides. The persons covered by the settlement will be former female clerical assistants-clerical officers who made equal pay claims in 1997, as well as clerical officers, both male and female, who were serving as a clerical assistant or a clerical officer on 24 September 1997 – the date of CPSU grade restructuring – and are still serving in the clerical officer grade on 16 May 2003, the date of the CPSU annual delegate conference, when the settlement terms were adopted. I estimate that approximately 6,800 people will be covered by the settlement which will result in a payment of approximately €5,000 per person. The outline agreement requires that a substantial majority of the 1997 claimants accept the settlement and withdraw their claims. If this condition is fulfilled, I hope that payments can be made in the current year.
