Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath has said that he favours a shorter-term public sector pay deal.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Mr McGrath said he did not believe that a longer-term agreement, such as a three-year deal, would be appropriate at this time because of what he described as the current extraordinary level of uncertainty.
"It would appear to me at this remove that a shorter-term agreement may have more merit at this time given the level of uncertainty that is there," he said.
The existing public sector pay agreement, Building Momentum, is due to expire at the end of the year but unions have triggered a review clause in the current deal due to rising inflation.
Prior engagement between the Government and unions, which is required as part of the review clause, took place last week in the form of a meeting between officials in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the public services committee of Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
Mr McGrath said that he will meet with his officials in the coming week to discuss the options available to address public sector pay claims.
After that he expects to bring a memorandum to the Government and, subject to the views of Government, he can embark on discussions with the public sector unions in the coming weeks.
Mr McGrath said that an increase in pay alone cannot offset the impact of inflation at this time.
"I certainly recognise the impact of the current level of inflation, but I don't believe that it is reasonable to think that pay alone can fully offset the impact of inflation," he said.
Under Building Momentum a further pay increase of 1% is scheduled for October.
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Inflation, which was projected to run at 2.2% in the Budget calculations for this year, is now forecast to average 6.5% for 2022.
This is the highest level of inflation in more than two decades.
This prompted the public services committee of ICTU to write to the Public Expenditure Minister invoking a clause which allows the agreement to be revisited if the "assumptions underlying it" change.
Every 1% public sector pay increase requires an additional €250 million in exchequer funding.
