The Administrative Officer Industrial Relations Committee (AOIRC) was founded with Fórsa to represent the interests of administrative officers (AOs) and AO equivalents from across the Civil Service. In particular it helps to play a part in the union and pay negotiations with DPER.

Based on the feedback of its members, the AOIRC would have two primary priorities. Firstly, to ensure AOs receive fair and adequate remuneration, and secondly to ensure the AO grade is structured and treated in a matter which is respectful and appropriate.

The AO grade is one with a great deal of diversity across Department and Civil Service bodies. While most entered through the general streams, many specialists are also graded as AO, such as for ICT. In particular, some AOs lead teams of their own, while others have no opportunity to gain managerial experience, which can have implications for promotion. There can be overlap between the AO and higher executive officer (HEO) roles, especially in Revenue.

Certain concerns have been raised regarding how the AO grade has often been styled as a graduate role, despite the variety of ages and past experiences of AOs, and in addition, how many AOs can remain in that grade for their entire career. It is felt improvements could possibly be made to the official guidelines, and that there is room for a greater level understanding of the place of AO role in the Civil Service.

Equity concerns have been raised pertaining that while the duties of an AO and HEO can overlap, there is a difference of starting salary of over €20,000, despite having the same max pay scale. Fórsa has previously successfully made challenge to Revenue in a promotion related case, where AOs and HEOs were treated interchangeably but receiving different starting pay scales.

It takes 8 years for an AO to reach the starting pay of an HEO, and would mean a loss in remuneration of approximately over a hundred thousand euro in total. The cost of raising the starting salary of an AO to that of a HEO would run at a yearly cost to the State of approximately 10 to 20 million euro.

In 2021 the rate of inflation was 5.5%. This would represent a real reduction in purchasing power of civil servants. In light of the coming official return to the workplace, many AOs raise concerns on the affordability of housing, and fuel necessary for their commute. A failure to adequately compensate AOs for the rise in the cost of living will result in difficulty in attracting and retaining talent. While the needed Civil Service pay increases are handled at a union wide level, they are of keen interest to the committee and AOs as a whole.

Keith Keogh - AOIRC Chair - Economist in the Houses of the Oireachtas