Fórsa has secured a binding decision by the Civil Service Arbitration Board on behalf of the union’s prison chaplain members. The board upheld Fórsa’s claim that chaplains, recruited from 2015 onwards, had been placed on an incorrect, lower, pay scale.  

The Arbitration Board heard the case last November (2024), and its decision, dated 1st December 2024, was finally issued to the union last week. 

The dispute arose after the Irish Prison Service (IPS) intended to restructure the chaplain role into a contractor-based ‘lay pastor’ model, with the sanction of the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (DPENDR). While that plan was abandoned, the IPS nonetheless recruited new chaplains on the lower lay pastor pay scale from 2015. 

This approach was taken outside of existing public service pay agreements, and without any formal agreement. In its submission, Fórsa said the IPS had “failed to either seek to have a new statutory instrument issued to capture this change, or to refer to the new title in any of the subsequent job advertisement circulars.”

The estimated difference in pay between for those appointed before and after 2015 was about €18,000 per point on the salary scale, or a difference of 30 to 33%.

The Arbitration Board concluded that as the functions of chaplains remained broadly unchanged post-2015, the two-tier system of payment should be ended and all personnel concerned should be on the same terms and conditions. It also determined that pay adjustments should be backdated to July 2023, when the matter was formally recorded as unresolved.

While welcoming the decision, Fórsa assistant general secretary Paul Moyer acknowledged members' disappointment that the remedy was not backdated to 2015, when the discrepancy began. He confirmed that Fórsa is reviewing potential avenues for further recourse.

Fórsa has written to IPS management seeking confirmation on when members will be placed on the correct pay scale, equivalent to that of assistant governor, and when arrears and leave entitlements will be paid.

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