Met Éireann’s decision to row back on a recruitment pay package following pressure from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) has been criticised as “a shambles” by Fórsa official Andy Pike.

The DPER intervened after the competition for meteorologists had closed, leaving applicants facing inferior pay prospects to those advertised by the Public Appointments Service.

Met Éireann is one of a growing number of State bodies that find it hard to recruit specialist staff, who can command better salaries in the private sector.

The agency had offered the prospect of three additional increments for meteorologists who had good language skills and were able to “discharge the highest duties” of the grade. It had said this would be assessed after three years in the job.

Now the flexibility has been withdrawn under pressure from the DPER.

Andy said the move would compound recruitment difficulties in the agency, while raising questions about the DPER’s commitment to address staffing bottlenecks. “This is an absolute shambles, especially for people who have applied to work in the civil service on the understanding that there was some flexibility over incremental progression,” he said.