Irish government to review pay deal because of rising prices

Michael McGrath, the Irish minister for public expenditure, has said that the government will look again at the pay deal it negotiated for public sector workers in 2020. Unions have called for a revision of the agreement, which provided for a 1% pay rise in October 2021 and a second 1% rise in October 2022.

With inflation currently at 5.6% (February), the unions argue that there are ample grounds for making use of the provisions in the agreement that provide for a review if circumstances change.

Kevin Callinan, general secretary of Ireland’s largest public services union, Fórsa, said: “There was no assumption of the high and sustained cost of living increases in play when the agreement was negotiated in late 2020.”