Sir, – Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin has told the Dáil that the Government would implement the Haddington Road agreement “in full” for those earning over €65,000 but rejected a call to prioritise pay restoration for public servants on the lowest pay rates.
Mr Howlin said an “immediate restoration” of all the reductions could not be sustained.
However the earlier Croke Park agreement had specified that in “the event of sufficient savings being identified in the spring 2011 review, priority will be given to public servants with pay rates of €35,000 or less in the review of pay which will be undertaken at that stage”.
This restoration of pay for low-paid public servants has yet to be addressed and is still outstanding.
Furthermore the legal basis for unilaterally changing the pay and working hours agreed under public sector contracts rests on the current Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts.
The Government’s refusal to dismantle upward-only rent review contracts shows how much it respects such legal undertakings and as soon as the economic emergency is declared over and FEMPI is not renewed, public servants should be entitled to have the terms and conditions of their contracts restored. – Yours, etc, DONAL McGRATH Greystones, Co Wicklow.