"Collective agreements have an important place in public service industrial relations. They provide a means to ensure we can deal with public pay issues in a fair, equitable and affordable way. I welcome the proposed agreement that was reached in the early hours of this morning at the WRC.

"I recognise that the commitment, flexibility and agility of our highly skilled public servants is fundamental to the delivery of quality public services. I believe that this agreement will provide certainty and stability for public servants as well as the government and public service users over the coming years.

"I have always been clear that I wanted to reach an agreement that was both affordable and fair and I believe both of these objectives have been achieved.

"The Agreement provides for increases of 10.25% over a two and a half year period. This is made up of pay increases totalling 9.25%, as well as a provision for a Local Bargaining mechanism equivalent to 1% of pay.

"The pay measures in the Agreement are weighted towards those on lower incomes. Those on lowest incomes will receive up to 17.3% over the lifetime of this Agreement inclusive of the Local Bargaining provision.

"I believe the new Local Bargaining process in this proposed agreement is an innovative and positive development that will support ongoing industrial peace. This process will allow grades, groups and categories of public servants to progress proposals or address issues while also providing cost certainty to the government.

"Continued reform of our public services remains a key priority for Government and this is reflected in the agreement, which builds on the achievements that have been made in every facet of the public service in recent years. I acknowledge the positive engagement by the unions and staff associations in this regard.

"I will now take this proposed agreement to Government for approval and I hope the proposals will be endorsed by public service unions and associations in the ballots that will follow.

"I would like to thank my officials, sectoral management colleagues and representatives of unions and staff associations for their extensive work in reaching this outcome. I would also like to thank the WRC for their assistance, expertise and professionalism throughout this process."

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Notes