The Minster for Finance Brian Cowen today announced the formal establishment of the Public Service Benchmarking Body.
The establishment of the body is provided for in the second public service agreement under Sustaining Progress to undertake an examination of the pay of public service employees compared to the private sector.
The Minister said that agreement had been reached with the public service unions on the terms of reference and membership of the Benchmarking Body.
The body will be chaired by Dan O'Keefe, while members will include Billy Attley, former general secretary of SIPTU, Olive Braiden from the Arts Council, John Malone, former secretary general of the Department of Agriculture and Food, Thomas McKevitt, former deputy general secretary of the Public Service Executive Union, Willie Slattery, MD State Street International Ireland, and Professor Brendan Walsh, Emeritus Professor of Economics,UCD.
The Public Service Benchmarking Body is being asked to report in the second half of 2007.
Minister Cowen said that it is too early to tell whether this review will find that increases are warranted for some or all of the public service groups whose pay is being examined.
He pointed out that the benchmarking process was never intended as an once-off exercise.
The Minister said that under the next Benchmarking exercise, the pay rates recommended for public servants will again reflect movements in private sector wages in the years since the last round and if there is little change in private salaries, beyond the standard terms of the national pay agreements, then the awards for the public service workers will reflect this.
Minister Cowen said that he will be seeking to ' ensure that any payments arising from this new exercise are used to leverage productivity improvements across the public service'.
