Minister of State for Business and Employment Ged Nash has said the Government has not ruled out a flat-rate pay increase for public sector workers ahead of negotiations with trade unions.
It follows calls from the Civil Public and Services Union, which represents lower-paid civil servants, that the restoration of pay should be done through flat-rate as opposed to percentage increases.
Speaking to RTÉ's The Week in Politics, Mr Nash said flat-rate pay increases were not off the table.
Asked about requirements for additional productivity as a condition for pay restoration, Mr Nash said the notion of productivity and high performance was very much hard-wired into the public sector now.
He said there were many ways in which productivity could be improved in the public sector, and that it was not necessarily about working longer hours.
Mr Nash also said the Government was "at one" on its approach to tax cuts, and wanted to make sure that they were targeted at those on lower and middle incomes.
