Civil servants rule out extra work in return for pay rises

Mid-ranking civil servants have ruled out providing extra work in return for pay restoration in forthcoming talks with the Government.

Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) president Brendan Lawless told delegates at its annual conference in Killarney he wanted to emphasise that the negotiations would only be about getting money back for public service employees.

“There will be no further concessions in return for restoration of pay,” he said.

He said while some on the Government side may be seeking more changes this approach was flawed.

“One, we have already given all that we can give and two, we have already given all that we can give. Now I realise that technically this is only one flaw but I thought it was such a big one it was worth mentioning twice.”

Over recent days ministers Fine Gael have said they wanted to seek additional productivity in return for pay restoration for staff in the public service.

Mr Lawless said staff had suffered “a huge burden of adjustment during the crisis” and said the was right to begin restoration.

He also called for a reversal of some measures put in place by the Government for civil servants over recent years which he described as “purely punitive”.

“The reduction in the amount of flexi-leave one can take is an example of this. The work-life balance measures were sought, fought for and won for a reason.

“This reason doesn’t change because the economy is in its up or down cycle. The restoration of things like these should also have a beneficial effect for those that rely upon the public services.”

Mr Lawless also said those who could afford to pay more tax should pay more and companies that operated and made profits in Ireland "should pay their fair share, their full amount".

He also called for “the closure of loopholes that allow international companies to avoid our already low rate”.

"We are all aware of big global corporations avoiding paying tax. A recent report has revealed that a company deliberately avoided paying over €1 billion in corporate taxes in Europe over the five year period 2009-2013.

“While transnational corporations are avoiding taxes in Europe, public sector workers have had their wages slashed.”

“More than 56,000 tax inspectors have been cut throughout the EU at precisely the moment they are most needed to investigate these corporations. This isn’t fair.”

Mr Lawless also expressed doubts over whether the taxpayer would reap a reward when the State-owned banks returned to profit.

“When the nationalised banks go back into profit, will the State reap the benefit it deserves from using tax payers’ money to rescue them? “ I doubt it.”

He said banks tended to keep profits and share debts.