Post by corrupteire on Aug 31, 2012 8:27:34 GMT -5
Almost 3,000 civil servants on salaries over €70,000 are to get pay increases.
New figures from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform also reveal that the increments paid to the civil service are part of a total bill this year of €90m for all public servants, including gardai, nurses and teachers.
The data from the department shows that 2,776 civil servants on annual salaries between €70,000 and €150,000 are eligible for increments.
The payments are either annual increases or long-service payments, which are given at three- and six-year intervals in the civil service and are worth in the region of €3,000 each.
The long-service increments are given when workers have been in their job for a certain number of years after reaching the top of their pay scale.
The incremental pay scale for an assistant secretary who joined the civil service after 1995 rises in four stages from €134,523 to €153,885.
The highest principal officer grade gets an increase of €3,260 after six years' "satisfactory service" at the top of their scale, bringing their basic salary to €110,844.
However, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's data also reveals the cost of increments in all sections of the public sector, excluding the local authorities, is expected to fall dramatically.
It says increments have cost no more than €180m per annum in the past and are expected to cost less than half that sum in 2012.
"With significantly reduced recruitment, the ongoing substantial fall in numbers of public servants, and higher numbers reaching the maxima of scales, this cost will continue to fall over the coming years," it said.
A debate has raged over the continued payment of the salary-scale increases, which are contractually part of the workers' terms and conditions.
www.independent.ie/national-news/pay-hikes-for-civil-servants-earning-more-than-70000-3088610.html