Taoiseach Micheal Martin has defended a pay rise for 4,000 public servants earning over €150,000 stating it’s the law. The news of this bump for top public servants comes as the Government comes under intense pressure for failing to move again on helping households as they continue to see the price of food and fuel soar and inflation now almost hitting 8%.
It has now emerged that medical consultants, judges, CEOs of State bodies, and senior civil servants are set to see a bump in their salary from next week due to the restoration of their pay which was cut as part of austerity measures 14 years ago.
Financial Emergency (FEMPI) legislation was used to cut the pay of the public following the financial crash in 2008. But the move has been described as “tone deaf” and a “slap in the face to ordinary workers.”
Read More : Top civil servants earning over €150,000 to get pay rises next week
Mr Martin said: “Well 90% of those receiving that will be doctors, consultants and that is part of FEMPI restoration which Opposition parties, Sinn Fein included called for back in 2007 and called for a full restoration at the time, the trade union movement did and it’s the fulfilment of that.
“It’s the final stage of the restoration of FEMPI which was brought in during the crash and legally that is the situation. There is no circumventing of legal obligations on the Government to fulfil what by law what Government has to do and that’s it.”
Tanaiste Leo Varadkar admitted it was “controversial” and the Government had looked into postponing the pay restoration but legal advice, which will not be published, was advised against. He told RTÉ: “We had a look at our options because we knew this would be controversial and we knew that it wasn’t coming at the best time, although there never is a good time to do these things.
“So we did look at the options, the options were passing a new law to further delay pay restoration for this group of people. And the advice was very clear – that [Fempi] legislation that was used to cut the pay of public servants was a financial emergency provision. There is no longer a financial emergency, we have record levels of employment, public finances are in good order.
“We would have to go into court and make the argument that it was right to fully reverse the pay cuts for a school principal or somebody working in the passport office or a garda inspector, but that it was okay to single out doctors.”
It is understood the pay restoration will cost €30 million for the remainder of this year. Salary rates up to €150,000, which account for 99% of the public service, have been fully restored.
Under the Public Service Pay and Pensions Act, salaries for those earning above €150,000 are due to be restored by 1 July. There have been repeated calls for Cabinet to move again on the cost of living crisis as energy, fuel and food prices soar, crippling Irish households.
Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on Workers’ Rights, Enterprise, Trade, and Employment, Louise O’Reilly said she “would like to see that legal advice.” She said the timing of the pay restoration is “tone deaf” as many people on lower incomes are working “40 hours a week and still cannot afford to feed their families.”
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said: “This news is a slap in the face to ordinary workers who are seriously struggling. People all over this country are being hammered with the cost of living crisis.
“Inflation, prices, rents, the cost of food and energy are having a seriously detrimental impact on people and their ability to get by.
“In the very same week we see the government flatly refusing to step in and help ordinary people, we can see when pay rises for very well paid civil servants are flagged, the government shrugs its shoulders and says ‘nothing we can do’.”
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Co Mayo on Wednesday, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said public transport, housing, childcare and more will be considered in a “comprehensive Budget.”
He said: “The winter is going to be difficult and challenging and the objective will be to get our people through the winter period and beyond in terms of cost of living and that isn’t just about energy costs, it’s about costs that affect children in particular and if we can focus and target our efforts, there is work underway in Government to do that.”
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