Vol. 554 No. 5
394 Mr. F. McGrath asked the Minister for Finance his views on whether the benchmarking process was a failure, with the proposed 18% VHI increases, transport fare increases of 20% and ESB increases of 14%; and his further views on whether workers have fallen behind once again. [15571/02]
The Public Service Benchmarking Body was established as an independent body in July 2000 under the terms of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. The body's remit was to examine public service pay and jobs, by comparison with the private sector, and make recommendations thereon. The terms of reference of the body were agreed between the public service employers and the public service unions.
The body reported on 1 July 2002 and made recommendations on pay rates. Discussions about its implementation began soon after and are continuing. In general, all workers have benefited from the terms of the PPF which gave an average annual increase of 6% in pay terms in addition to the tax reductions in recent budgets. This has resulted in real increases in take-home pay under the PPF.
