Salary hike for state employees later this year, discussions will happen later this month

Negotiations on a salary increase for government officials in Ireland continue to be active.

According to the previous salary agreement, the newly refreshed salary agreement was to be announced in October. But all those planning got delayed due to the global pandemic.

Trade unions and officials from the Department of Public Expenditure will meet again later this month to discuss proposals for a hike in salary for 340,000 employees.

During the discussion between the two parties last day, a favorable position was taken for a pay hike. The issue was raised in the Cabinet by Minister of Public Expenditure Michael McGrath before discussions with senior members of the Public Service Committee and the unions.

McGrath also informed the ministers that informal talks had begun with the unions. He also said the cabinet would be informed of the progress of the talks in the coming days.

A spokesman for Forza, Ireland’s largest public service trade union, said talks were progressing and the two sides would meet again. It is hoped that further discussions on the salary hike will take place by the end of this month.

The current public service contract, which pays 340,000 employees, including nurses, doctors, other health workers, teachers, civil services, local authority staff, guards and defense personnel, will expire later this year.

In July, the minister had announced that from October 1 onwards a 2% increase will be made to the current pay scale.

Critics have also spoken out against the pay rise in the wake of the Covid crisis.

In addition to the October pay rise, the government will eliminate the practice of withholding salaries from those earning up to ,000 150,000 between October and July as part of the financial emergency legislation.

According to the report, the government’s public service bill will increase to 330 million euros in 2021, based on salary increases and other costs.

As per the report in June, McGrath said the total public service bill for this year would be 19.7 billion. Figures also show that the public service bill has been rising by 1 billion over the past few years.