Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 28 Feb 2001

Vol. 531 No. 4

Written Answers. - Garda Pay Bill.

Róisín Shortall

Ceist:

201 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the total increase in the pay bill of an Garda Síochana arising from the three settlements made under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work, namely the settlement in respect of pensionability of allowances, the settlement reached in July 1998 and the settlement reached in respect of the PULSE rostering issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6197/01]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

The actual annual expenditure in respect of Garda pay costs, including superannuation, and the increases from year to year are set out as follows for each of the years from 1993 to 2000.

	1993 £million	1994 £million	1995 £million	1996 £million	1997 £million	1998 £million	1999£million	2000£million
Garda pay costs	284.3	292.9	298.1	325.4	343.8	410.5	421.3	461.3
Superannuation costs	55.5	60.3	68*	67.3	71.7	83	86.5	102.4
Total increase from previous year	13.4	12.9	26.6	22.8	78*	14.3*	55.9*

The Deputy is referring to the restructuring agreements reached at the Garda Conciliation Council, under the local bargaining clause of the PESP-PCW pay agreements, which were in return for agreement by the relevant Garda associations to contribute to flexibility and change within the force.

The first of these agreements, in 1994, provided that unsocial hours allowance be made pensionable from 1 January 1994 for Garda pensioners who retired on or after 1 January 1993. The other two agreements, which included an interim agreement in 1998 and an agreement following acceptance and implementation in full of the recommendations of the adjudication board, took account of major issues including civilianisation, rostering and PULSE and provided for increases in basic pay and rent, boot and uniform-plain clothes allowances.

While these three agreements were contributing factors to the increases outlined, other pay increases impacted in this period. Partnership 2000 increases impacted from July 1997 to April 2000 and the first increase under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness took effect from October 2000. It is not possible to isolate the ongoing impact of the pay settlements referred to in the question from these costs and other variable factors such as operational activities, the increase in numbers in the force and fluctuations in the numbers retiring, which impact on the pay costs of an Garda Síochána. However, the increases marked with an asterisk were largely due to the payment of arrears arising from the application of these pay settlements.