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Minister Donohoe invites views about establishment of Public Service Pay Commission

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe T.D., today (Thursday) commenced a short public consultation, to run over the coming weeks, about the role and methodology of the Public Service Pay Commission.

Initiating the process, Minister Donohoe said: ‘I recently received approval from Government to implement the important commitment in the Programme for Partnership Government to establish an independent advisory body to look at issues on public service pay’.

“This is a topic on which there are many views. For that reason, I intend to canvass the views of all stakeholders including the general public about the role and methodology of the Commission. These views will inform the development of detailed policy proposals.”

The Minister also stressed that the Commission would be advisory in nature: “It is vital that the Government retains the ability to negotiate directly with its employees. In no sense will the Commission duplicate the work of the State’s existing industrial relations bodies, the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court. Rather, its role will be to provide authoritative and evidence-based analysis on pay matters to assist officials in discharging their negotiation function.”

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform will revert to Government with detailed proposals in the autumn, following engagement with key stakeholders, as required under the terms of the Lansdowne Road Agreement.

It is intended that members of the Commission will be appointed through the Stateboards.ie system and that the Commission’s findings will be published.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has advised that submissions can be emailed to pspc.consultation@per.gov.ie until the 28th August 2016. Please be aware that submissions may be published on the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform’s website.