Ireland’s new Public Service pay deal will be formally ratified after the country’s largest union representing Government workers announced that its members had overwhelmingly backed the proposed agreement in a ballot.
With the agreement of Fórsa and other large representative organisations, there is more than sufficient support to secure ratification when the overall Public Service Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) meets to consider the issue.
However, support for the deal is by no means unanimous.
The public health sector split over the agreement, with nurses decisively supporting it while doctors overwhelmingly rejected it.
Chair of the Irish Medical Organisation’s Non-Consultant Hospital Doctor Committee, Paddy Hillery (pictured) said the agreement “doesn’t live up to the challenge of this moment and our members can’t support it”.
Dr Hillery said the proposed agreement did not recognise the new health service realities brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic nor did it address the long-standing grievances of doctors working in public health services.
Meanwhile, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said in a statement: “This is a definitive result from our members. We held over 100 meetings in recent weeks.
“There is no doubt that the reduction in working hours, set out as part of the agreement, was of major importance for our members,” the Organisation said.
“That commitment must be dealt with comprehensively and within the lifetime of the agreement,” it said.
The decision by the ICTU on whether to ratify the agreement is based on an aggregate of the votes of its individual affiliates, with larger organisations having a greater weight.
As well as the IMO, the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland and the association representing medical laboratory scientists have also voted to oppose the deal.
Dublin, 21 February 2021
