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The Minister for Finance, Mr Charlie McCreevy
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The Minister for Finance has said that payment of public service pay increases recommended by the Benchmarking Body will be subject to negotiations, which it hopes to commence with the ICTU next week.
Speaking earlier today Mr McCreevy also said the cost of full implementation of the recommendations contained in the report would be €1.1bn, rather than the €1bn mentioned yesterday.
Meanwhile the teachers unions, TUI, ASTI and INTO are meeting this afternoon to discuss the implications of the recommendations for primary and secondary school teachers throughout the country.
Yesterday it was revealed that the benchmarking body has mistakenly omitted two points from the teachers' pay scale recommendations.
A spokesman for the INTO, which had been campaigning for such a cut in the scale, told the Irish Timesit was "incensed" by the mistake, which was "causing serious difficulties" for the union.
It is understood the benchmarking body has now forwarded a correction to the Department of Finance.
Tomorrow the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Public Services Committee will also meet to discuss the report, with a view to meeting the Department of Finance next week.
The committee's chairperson - IMPACT General Secretary Mr Peter McLoone - said a definitive position on the report's recommendations would be put forward after tomorrow's meeting.
He congratulated the Benchmarking Body for completing the report "without fear or favour" as promised at the outset, and said: "the outcome has vindicated the unions' view that public sector pay fell behind during the economic boom. Irish taxpayers should also be assured that they now have the most rational possible assessment of what public servants deserve."
Earlier today SIPTU leader Mr Des Geraghty called for a collective response from the group of unions.
Speaking on RTÉ radio this morning, Mr Geraghty said he did not want individual unions to respond individually despite the report being a disappointment to some people.
"One commitment we made going into this exercise was that this is a collective exercise. We will now discuss the report within our own groups. We will also discuss it with our colleague unions and we will come out with a collective response," he said.
"What I don't want to see happening is individual groups trying to break loose."
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"I can understand it [the report] doesn't address all people's desires and with inflation all round us at the moment and costs, undoubtedly everyone wants a pay increase.
"But I think people should look at it in this context. This was an attempt to address a particular problem of the public sector, which is slippage."
The benchmarking report, which was completed yesterday after 19 months, recommended payment increases for public sector workers - including teachers, nurses, gardaí and civil servants.
The report recommends that rank-and-file gardaí get a five per cent rise in pay, Chief Superintendents 16.1 per cent, Superintendents 16 per cent and Inspectors and Sergeants six per cent.
In the medical profession, the report recommends an eight per cent pay rise for staff nurses, a 14 per cent increase for health managers and a 12 per cent hike for senior registrars.
Principal Officers in the civil service would receive a 11.7 per cent increase in pay, Assistant Principal Officers 13.8 per cent, while Clerical Officers would receive a significantly smaller 8.5 per cent increase in pay.
In the teaching profession, industrial action from secondary teachers in the ASTI still looms. While other teaching unions have broadly welcomed their 13 - 17.6 per cent pay award, ASTI have been looking for a 30 per cent pay increase.