Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers has said that negotiations on a new public sector pay deal are “very intensive” after eight days of talks at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), and that the pace will increase through the week.
Speaking at an event in Dunboyne, Co Meath, on Wednesday, Mr Chambers said the Government is clear that it wants “a fair deal for public sector workers.” He added that the deal “has to be sustainable and affordable for the taxpayer as well.”
He described the engagement between the two sides as “really positive and constructive,” while cautioning against expecting an early announcement. “That level of intensity will increase through the week and, obviously, we want to have a positive outcome from that,” he said. “But as has been said by everybody involved, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”
Mr Chambers said a confidential process is under way, and that “every side needs to conclude that before we’ll see an outcome.” He said the Government wants “a positive outcome for public sector workers,” adding: “We value industrial peace, and we want to have stability around industrial relations in 2027 and beyond.”
The minister said the Government will want reform and productivity measures included in any deal. He said this has been a standard part of public service pay agreements for years, and that the unions understand it. “So, there will be proposals around reform and productivity, and they’ll be discussed, and hopefully agreed between all sides, as well as agreement on a wider public sector pay deal itself,” he said. Taoiseach Micheál Martin took the same line last week, saying any deal must offer value for money and productivity.
The WRC talks followed a national strike on October 14, in which about 300,000 public service workers, including nurses, doctors, teachers and civil servants, took part. A second 24-hour strike planned for October 21 was suspended after both sides agreed on a framework. On Saturday, October 17, a Government-appointed group led by WRC chair Kevin Foley said the talks should begin with pay-related matters. These include the unions’ claims on the effect of the cost of living between 2021 and 2025, the cost of living this year, and the length of any agreement. The group also said there was a “need to rebuild trust and confidence in industrial relations in the public sector” by addressing commitments made under the previous agreement.
Formal talks opened on Monday, October 19. The union side is led by Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan, who chairs the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. He was joined by Phil Ní Sheaghdha of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, John Boyle of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation and Adrian Kane of SIPTU. The Government side is represented by officials from the Department of Public Expenditure.
After the first day, Mr Callinan said the unions “laid out the issues and backed them up with a lot of detail,” and indicated that a deal could come in days rather than weeks. On arriving for talks, he said unions would listen to the Government’s productivity proposals, although many workers felt they had nothing more to give. He stressed that “any pay negotiation has a cost-of-living element, and usually a productivity element, they’re separate things.” He said the priority was dealing with this year, not the figures in the Budget.
The Budget set aside €1.2 billion for public sector pay, with a separate €1.6 billion contingency fund. Unions have said the full cost of a deal could be around €2 billion. They say workers face a shortfall of between 5% and 7% against inflation since 2021.
The previous Public Service Agreement expired at the end of June, and work-to-rule action continues across the public sector while the talks go on.
