Fine Gael has renewed its attack on the benchmarking pay deal after a Government advisory group said the award should be paid to all public service grades from the start of next month.
Civil and public servants will receive 50 per cent of the award next year at a cost to the Government next year of €305 million, increasing pressure on the public finances. They have already received 25 per cent of the award.
The Fine Gael finance spokesman, Mr Richard Bruton, said he was not surprised that the increases would be paid.
While Fine Gael is the only party in the Dáil to oppose the award, delegates at its recent national conference indicated unease with the stance by applauding an attack on the deal's critics by a senior trade unionist, Mr David Begg.
Mr Bruton said the documents published yesterday by the Department of Finance were "not comparable to the action plans published in August which contained specific actions listed for each Department with projected completion dates".
He said the documents appeared to highlight successful actions to boost productivity, but were silent on actions which were not achieved.
"It is also noteworthy that although the documents released today express concern about the pace of change in some areas - such as competitive merit-based promotions and regulatory reform - that concern has not affected the payment of the full amount on January 1st."
Mr Bruton said decision to pay the latest award "locks in a bad deal struck by the Government on behalf of the taxpayer, and means that every household will on average pay €1,000 extra next year for service improvements that don't merit that amount."
A Labour party spokesman said any failure by the Government to pay up would amount to a breach of social partnership.
Benchmarking is a major element of the €1.1 billion increase in the public pay and pensions bill next year. The bill also includes a general pay increase of 3 per cent under the Sustaining Progress partnership agreement, which will cost €540 million next year, and other provisions costings €265 million.
