Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
LAST UPDATE | 11 Jan 2024
UNIONS WERE OFFERED a pay increase of €2.9 billion last night in pay talks that failed to reach an agreement, according to public expenditure minister Paschal Donohoe.
Donohoe said those on the lowest incomes working in the public service would be set to benefit “by around 12%”.
Earlier talks between the Government and trade unions were adjourned at around 3am this morning after the two sides failed to reach a deal.
Kevin Callinan, the lead union negotiator and the general secretary of the Forsa union, said that the opening offer from the Government side in this latest round of talks was “extremely disappointing”.
“The fact remains that there’s a substantial gap between the parties in relation to pay,” he added.
However, Donohoe told reporters today that the offer made to unions last night was considered a “very significant proposal” by government.
He detailed that offer would total increases of “just over €2.9 billion” over two years with 8% increases over that period. He added that the aim is to ensure those on lower incomes see increases of over 12%.
Callinan said, in a statement this afternoon, that the difference between what was offered in the ‘Building Momentum agreement’ and inflation has resulted in a 19% gap in the difference of pay to public sector workers.
He added that the revised pay offer would “fail any test of credibility in a ballot of union members”.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions said the deal reflects “lack of preparedness” by government to complete a “sustainable and robust multi-year pay deal” and “undermined perceptions of the Government’s approach to the process of securing a new agreement”.
Callinan said: “In contrast to its recent measures to address the cost-of-living challenge on the National Minimum Wage and social protection payments, where it has demonstrated a real pragmatism, its approach to completing a public service pay agreement lacks credibility.”
John King, secretary general of trade union Siptu said the offering would have only averaged to a €5 per week increase – before deductions – for low-wage workers and a €10 per week increase to those on middle-incomes in the first year.
King claimed the deal “failed the basic test of creating a robust agreement in the face of a continuing cost-of-living crisis”.
General Secretary of nursing and midwives union INMO Phil Ní Sheaghdha said the agreement undermines the months of meeting and work by the stakeholders that has already been discussed.
Ní Sheaghdha claimed that a “significant gap on pay measures between both sides remains.”
General Secretary John Boyle of teaching union INTO said: “We remain focused on returning to the negotiations to ensure we can complete a deal that is robust enough to endure the 30-month period envisaged.”
Donohoe said: “That is the latest efforts that I have made now in a process now that has taken many many months to find a way to reach agreement on public pay within our economy and within our country.”
The minister said earlier that he is “disappointed” after public sector pay talks between the Government and trade unions failed to reach a new deal after a late night of intensive negotiations.
Donohoe said: “What I would ask now is that the representatives of the unions reflect on the magnitude of the proposal that was made.”
ICTU’s Public Services Committee (PSC) has claimed this afternoon that the wording of a ballot for industrial action has been agreed upon, with unions poised to commence a ballot should it become necessary in the coming days.
In a statement after talks concluded in the early hours of the morning, Donohoe said that he was “disappointed” that public service pay discussions have not yet delivered an agreed outcome.
“I recognise that all stakeholders have been involved in lengthy and challenging discussions over the last number of weeks,” he said.
He added: “At the outset of these discussions, I gave an early commitment, in good faith, to repeal remaining FEMPI legislation in an effort to generate goodwill and remove any barriers to achieving a multi-annual agreement.”
The talks between the Government and public sector trade unions had stalled back in December, just days before the most recent agreement expired at the end of last year.
Donohoe said the Government wants to reach an agreement that is the “correct balance” between investment in public services and being “fair and affordable”.
The 19 trade unions on the PSC of the ICTU are due to meet on today to sign-off on the wording of ballots for industrial action if there is no new deal.
There are more than 300,000 public servants in Ireland across 17 departments.
Includes reporting by Press Association
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Why can’t they be renovated into permanent accommodation? And why would it cost so much?
O’Devaney Gardens flats were renovated only a few years ago. They were all fitted with new double glazed windows and shortly afterwards half the flats were knocked down.
New windows isn’t renovating. Renovating is ripping everything out, new electrics, plumbing, insulation and warm boards put in. I lived in Germany on a 10th floor apartment just like Ballymun but inside was new. It was great. It shouldn’t cost more than 25k for each apartment from start to finish
It shouldn’t Niall. But this is Ireland.
Obviously no brown envelopes for councillors in housing the homeless…….. Corrupt gangsters
Is it possible for The Journal to publish a breakdown of how each individual councillor on the council voted on this motion ?
FF and FG against it, labour abstained and all others in favour of halting the development.
Might have been a short term solution, but would imagine people in hotels would have been glad of it as a stepping stone, especially as they were expected to be ready by September.
Absolute waste of money. It was a knee jerk reaction to the housing crisis. They can take millions from property tax and motor tax to fund irish water but they can’t build public housing for the homeless?
Maybe a few more deaths near government buildings and we’ll get a proper, sustainable solution to this mess.
Andy doyle u will answers in 30 years
Dont forget the mone from the pension reserve fund.
Not to worry, Alan Kelly is building 35,000 new homes and he’s going to house everybody and everybody’s granny by 2018. Sure I saw him myself digging away with his shovel. Or was he installing a water meter? Because Kelly’s water metering seems to have come to a standstill.
Yes Con.
You mean digging a bigger for himself
Hole was in the text but it’s gone walking . Sorry
Junkies have been the scourge of the genuine homeless person for a good few years now ,taking up spaces in homeless shelthers hosthels in dublin and turning them into smack houses while forcing genuine people with genuine problems out onto the street ,no genuine person or family who finds themselves in this unfortunate situation would feel safe in shelters with the carry on of these low lifes who are thrown out of the shelters from nine to five every day to cause havoc on the people of the city centre and surrounding areas ,all gathering at the board walk on the liffey buying selling and banging up and drinking ,maybe this shower of over paid idiots should of sparing a taught for the genuine homeless people before making this decission ,and also get up of their fat asses and clear up the mess these junkies are creating in dublin
What a disgrace. These properties could have saved a life or 50!
The last place I would house anyone is O’Devaney Gardens. A total, (and extremely dangerous) kip.
What’s your reason to make this comment ?
Strange old country, we have people who come here to flee persecution, they claim asylum , get somewhere to live , get fed, get pocket money, access to education (including now third level) and free legal assistance to help them stay here. But some of our own citizens sleep in doorways and b+b’s and no one seems to care.
Fleeing persecution is an entirely different issue with entirely different social problems to homelessness.
Value for money? these people need homes. I understand that cost has to come into it somehow but where are the savings proposed to be made? Talking shops as usual
Has everyone gone bonkers??? Why are we even considering housing homeless people in the center of the most expensive city in the state? There are plenty of perfectly fine houses in Leitrim that are ready to move into and would cost a fraction! We are so Dublin centered it’s costing us a fortune and no one even realises!
Was mannix flynn the one who voted for taxing buskers,
And auld christy burke claimed to not know a certain criminal who was convicted of peadophilia in sherriff street dublin even though the whole inner city dublin knew christy was lying through his teeth ,i wouldnt trust christy as far as i throw him , and hes lord f&%cking mayor ,how the hell can this happen ,
Mannix actually voted against the busking bye-laws
I’ve managed to find work through 2 recessions since 1979. And pay my own way.
Well done to you
Good for you Denis, so did I doesn’t mean I expect everyone else to be so lucky…
Luck is a myth, good fortune is earned.
Ye if you’re not playing a rigged game
The councillors are right. This is an extortionate amount of money to spend on a temporary fix that will be knocked down in a few years. there are plenty of places they could spend the money on and get a permanent solution that’s in better condition – here’s ten homes for sale on daft, for example http://www.daft.ie/commercial/10-19-wesley-place-clanbrassil-street-dublin-8-dublin/221003/
Buy them and put homeless people in there and save money too. Well done the councillors.
The Todd. If they need a home what they could do is get a job and pay for it like the rest of us.
Because we live in a job saturated economy? People that are homeless don’t even receive any welfare because they don’t have an address. That’s why it’s called a poverty trap
If only it was so easy Denis there would be no homeless people. Try joining the dots…
Actually Todd that’s not true, they do receive welfare, however, in some circumstances they can’t receive rent allowance.
I stand corrected
Talking about homelessness and the council starts mentioning “value for money” Maggie Thatcher is alive and well and living in Dublin and voting on council decisions…
And tomorrow, SF will express their outrage at the way homeless people are being treated…
No they won’t ,they aren’t politically stupid despite what anyone thinks , how the Fcuk could they have got this far in irish politics north and south without having insider knowledge ,they are part of the establishment.
If they do O’Reilly it will be more then what the government (FG & Lab) or FF are doing….
Common sense.
Let the govenment do the right thing. Build more social houses.
Christy Burke seems to have a lot of clout.
Surprised himself and Mannix are at odds on this one.
Tommy Newman
When is the last time you can remember the government doing the right thing ?
There is no money in this for the government, it would be against the covenant of corporate government.
Simple. Make them homeless until they reach a viable solution.
Lumping a whole lot of socially deprived people into one building where their children will be labelled and their self esteem will plumett even though there are hundreds of empty houses around the country available right now! !! Have we learned nothing from all the previous planning errors made in the past???
Nothing new here . Owen Keegan will do what Owen Keegan wants to do , ruling Dublin like a true dictator.
Thank you.
One of th reasons given for not do this was that it was a short term solution for people and didnt offer a solution to people. Yet their funding one homeless charity to have 50 people a night sleep in the floor on yoga mats is that a desirable solution???
It would depend on the funding being €80k per yoga mat and how long they could use the yoga mat for.
Sounds flippant, but that’s the reality (though I do expect there’s more than a enough NIMBYism going on here too. Spending €5m on a temporary solution for 60 people for 5 years (refurb of these flats) is quite different to spending €5m on a temporary solution for 600 people for 5 years (yoga mats in a homeless shelter).
There’s absolutely a problem but this isn’t the way to go about it. I do hope that €5m is put to better use for the homeless.
Yet another example of wasted resources under the mismanagement by politicians and vested groups. Please sell all unused property to developers for repurposing. At least sell development rights so that the land can be used for some sane purpose as opposed to idling it for the sake of indecision.
O’Devaney gardens is a rotten hellhole and condemning families to living there is a sentence and nothing more. The place isn’t fit for rats. It’s certainly not fit for vulnerable families.
have your say