Labour submits Dáil motion on Public Sector Pay

Labour submits Dáil motion on Public Sector Pay - The Labour Party

The Labour Party has submitted a formal motion to the Dail calling on Government to “drop their arbitrary preconditions” and “commit to engaging in good faith with the trade unions representing public sector workers”.

The motion comes ahead of the first nationwide public sector strike in 17 years.

Ged Nash TD, the Party’s Finance & Public Expenditure spokesperson said:

“Labour is due to have private members’ time in the Dáil next Wednesday morning. That is the first day of scheduled strike action across the public service. Labour Party TDs, Senators and staff will not pass the picket at Leinster House.

“Nevertheless, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have ploughed on and have attempted to schedule a full day of Dáil business on Wednesday, regardless of the action.

“This morning, we have formally submitted a motion to the Dáil on public sector pay.

“We in Labour take our responsibilities as parliamentarians very seriously and we apply the same level of seriousness to our responsibility to represent the interests and concerns of working people.

“We oppose the high-handed, dog-in-a-manger attitude this government is displaying towards the public service and their unions.

“We are in the extraordinary position where on the one hand the Taoiseach says they want to have pay talks, but on the other, they are not prepared to prioritise pay.

“It is about time government took the legitimate concerns of 400,000 public sector workers as seriously as we do.

“Two full hours of dead air in the Dáil Chamber next Wednesday morning is unfortunate and regrettable. The Oireachtas cannot function, and nor can our health and education services, without its workers and an empty Chamber will serve to draw attention to the arrogant and high-handed attitude government has adopted on this eminently soluble dispute, the solution to which is clear.”

ENDS

Labour Party Motion

re: Public Sector Pay

That Dáil Éireann –

notes that:

• the government allowed the Public Sector Pay agreement to expire in June 2026 leaving over 400,000 workers with no collective pay agreement for the first time since 2010;

• since then, across the public service, trade unions have balloted their members, and there has been overwhelming support in favour of taking industrial action;

• no provision was made in Budget 2027 for pay rises in the remainder of 2026, while inflation has reached 4.1%;

agrees that:

• it is economically and fiscally reckless for the Minister for Public Expenditure to have allowed a situation to develop where there is no pay agreement that ensures certainty for both workers and the State;

recalls that:

• the last time there was a nationwide public service strike was in 2009 under a Fianna Fáil government;

• government has repeatedly given into the demands of narrow sectoral interests and lobbyists through the last two Budgets and in response to fuel protests;

• Budget 2026 failed to index PAYE tax rates, bands and credits and the changes this year still leave workers cumulatively behind;

further recalls that:

• as part of the last pay agreement there was provision for the first phase of a 1% local bargaining increase from 1st September 2025, to be followed by 2% in the next successor agreement;

• there has been significant delays in the implementation of these agreed increases leading to growing frustration and anger in affected sectors

•  there has also been similar delays in the implementation of previous agreed commitments and Labour Court recommendations, and this has damaged trust;

recognises that:

• talks on a new agreement must clearly prioritise pay from the outset, and the government has not demonstrated a credible approach that properly addresses the growing cost-of-living pressures facing public sector workers;

regrets that:

• the Minister has resorted to lecturing public sector workers in his Budget Day speech and blaming trade unions for his failure to meaningfully engage on future pay;

• comments by the Taoiseach have further inflamed the dispute;

calls on the government to:

• drop their arbitrary preconditions and commit to engaging in good faith with the trade unions representing public sector workers;

• commit that future pay increases will, at a minimum, protect the pay of public sector workers against inflation.

• Ged Nash, Ciarán Ahern, Ivana Bacik, Alan Kelly, Eoghan Kenny, George Lawlor, Robert O’Donoghue, Conor Sheehan, Marie Sherlock, Duncan Smith, Mark Wall.