Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 July 2018
27. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 14 of 17 May 2018, if work has concluded on revision of the estimated cost associated with new entrants in the Department of Defence highlighted in the report on the cost of dealing with pay equalisation for new entrants to the public service laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas in March 2018; and if so, the estimated cost of same. [28676/18]
View answerThe Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020 (PSSA), provided that an examination of remaining salary scale issues in respect of post January 2011 recruits at entry grades would be undertaken within 12 months of the commencement of the Agreement.
Additionally, as the Deputy is aware, this Government accepted an amendment at Section 11 of the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act 2017, that within 3 months of the passing of the Act, I would prepare and lay before the Oireachtas a report on the cost of and a plan in dealing with pay equalisation for new entrants to the public service.
This was a significant body of work and staff resources from within the Irish Government Economic Evaluation Service (IGEES) were assigned to collect, collate and examine the data and provide detailed point in time costs associated with the measure.
In accordance with the legislation I submitted a report to the Oireachtas on the 16th of March.
This report estimated the overall cost of a two point increment adjustment at €200m for the 60,500 staff identified as new entrants. Of this, approximately €3m is associated with new entrants in the Department of Defence. As a result of additional information supplied, the estimated cost in the Department of Defence has increased but as expected, this has not materially impacted the overall cost of approximately €195- €200m per annum.
