Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 May 2023
243. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the estimated full-year cost of ensuring that every public sector worker is paid a minimum of €15 per hour; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24032/23]
View answer245. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the number of people working in the public sector earning less than the living wage of €15 per hour; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24034/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 243 and 245 together.
In relation to the civil service, for which my Department holds detailed data, the suggested Living Wage at €15 per hour based on the civil service 35 hour standard net working week equates to an annual salary of approximately €27,395. Detailed data on civil service staff indicates that approximately 6% of staff (FTE) in the civil service are on salary points less than the suggested Living Wage. It is expected that this number will reduce significantly on implementation of the final adjustment of 1.5% or €750 due on October 1 2023 under the extension to Building Momentum.
Those currently on an annual salary of less than €27,395 may be receiving remuneration in excess of the suggested living wage through additional premium payments in respect of shift work or atypical working hours. In addition, these salary scales progress to the suggested Living Wage and above through normal incremental progression.
The current public service agreement is Building Momentum - A New Public Service Agreement 2021-2023. The pay measures in the extended agreement amount to total headline adjustments of 9.5% over the lifetime of the Agreement. The extended Agreement is weighted towards those at lower incomes headline increases of approximately 12.5% for the lowest paid public servants. This would include all those earning less than €27,395 per annum.
The public service information sought in this request would require detailed data on the position of staff on each salary scale across the public service and details of the standard working hours per week for each individual grade. This data is not held in my Department.
