The Public Service Pay Commission is now expected to make its initial report on professions and grades experiencing recruitment and retention difficulties at the end of July. Its first report will cover nursing, medical and air corps grades. Fórsa grades in the civil service and health will be the subject of later reports.

The Public Service Stability Agreement requires the commission to undertake a detailed examination of recruitment and retention issues in areas where it has become problematic.

Fórsa made separate submissions on specific grades in the civil service and the health and social care professionals.

The union has argued that relatively low starting salaries for certain civil service grades have made recruitment a problem in many parts of the civil service. Fórsa national secretary Andy Pike has called for civil service management to be given the flexibility to pay staff above the usual entry rates, where necessary, in order to attract suitably qualified staff.

Andy says uncompetitive entry pay had left State bodies struggling to recruit cleaners, solicitors, meteorologists, radio officers, agricultural officers, valuers, Oireachtas researchers, translation staff, SENOs, and others.