Donohoe asked how he will pay for public service top-up

The Minister for Public Expenditure has been urged to explain how he would pay for a €1,000 salary increase for public servants which is being brought forward from September to April.

Paschal Donohoe yesterday confirmed the move, and said the money would be found through "savings and efficiencies" which would be identified throughout the year.

“We are looking at a number of measures to see how we can make more efficient use of public expenditure, and we will use that process to identify the funding to deliver against this cost.”

Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty yesterday repeatedly pressed him to explain where exactly the savings would be found. He was speaking at the Oireachtas budget scrutiny committee, which had a scheduled meeting with Mr Donohoe after his announcement.

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“You are coming before the committee saying you have to find €120 million and you have no idea where you’ll find it,” Mr Doherty said.

Mr Donohoe declined to give any details, saying he would be accountable to the committee and the Dáil on the matter throughout the year.

Fianna Fáil and Labour also sought clarity on where the monies would be found, and a commitment from the Minister that no public services would be affected by the decision.

Magician

Fianna Fáil’s public expenditure spokesman

Dara Calleary

said Mr Donohoe had become a magician in finding additional funds for public servants. The Government had already agreed to pay increases to gardaí based on a recommendation of the Labour Court which would cost €50 million.

Labour leader Brendan Howlin criticised the agreement reached, and claimed it had undermined the budget announced in October."This now amounts to the earliest supplementary budget in Irish history."

Mr Donohoe insisted other services would not be jeopardised, and he was determined to ensure there were no consequences for other sectors of the public service.

He said the alternative could have been significantly more costly for the State, telling Deputies at the committee that the threat to the public sector pay bill would have been much greater in the absence of an agreement.

The agreement was reached between Mr Donohoe and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions on Monday. It will benefit 250,000 public sector workers but will not apply to members of An Garda Síochána or to members of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland.

Conditional

Mr Donohoe said the new pay arrangement was conditional on adherence to industrial peace in the public service. However, Siptu said on Tuesday that a planned ballot for strike action by thousands of support staff in the health service would get under way early next week.

The Government said the new initiative stemmed from talks with the public service committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to address “anomalies” that arose as a result of the €50 million pay deal with gardaí last November.

ICTU, meanwhile, said it had advised the Government "that outstanding issues" would be pursued in further talks due to take place after a report by the Public Service Pay Commission is issued.

The talks are expected to take place after Easter.