Talks on a new utility payment agreement will begin this week

THE MINISTER OF Reform and Public Expenditure has invited public service unions and staff associations to formal negotiations on a new wage agreement through the Commission on Workplace Relations.

The Public Service Stability Agreement has been in force since January 2018 and expires on December 31, 2020.

Minister Michael McGrath said that “now there is an opportunity to intensify the talks on an appropriate successor.”

“These will be difficult discussions in a very challenging context. Any deal has to be appropriate to the context the country currently faces and must be sustainable in the face of considerable economic uncertainty, ”McGrath said today.

He added that there is “scope for all parties to constructively commit to an agreement that benefits everyone, the citizens and businesses that depend on essential public services and the staff who work so hard to provide them.”

Talks will begin later this week at the Commission on Workplace Relations. All meetings will comply with relevant public health councils, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said in a statement.

The Public Services Committee (PSC) of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) met this morning in anticipation of an invitation to formal talks.

The committee, which represents all ICTU affiliated unions with members working in the civil and public service, decided that it would accept the invitation.

A statement issued after the meeting noted that the committee heard a report on the progress of exploratory talks, which have been taking place between PSC officials and senior officials from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, “with the objective of to establish whether there is a basis for negotiations. ”

Last week, PSC president Kevin Callinan said that commitments to the department had “significantly intensified.”