The Permanent Defence Force in Ireland is to award a pay increase to general service recruits and privates following the introduction of a revised pay scale.
The pay increase, which will apply to recruits and privates who joined the Permanent Defence Force after 1 January 2013, will be backdated to 1 July 2016. Combined with pay increases implemented under the Lansdowne Road Agreement, which defines pay policy for public servants and members of the Permanent Defence Forces, eligible military employees will experience a pay rise between 8% and 24% depending on their point in the pay scale.
Gross pay increases for general service recruits are expected to amount to €38 (£34.80) a week for the initial 17 weeks of training, increasing to €78 (£71.44) a week for private two stars in their 12 weeks of training. Private three stars can expect to receive a pay increase between €2,000 and €6,000 (£1,831.69 and £5,495.07) a year, including military service allowance, depending on their point in the new pay scale.
Trade union body The Permanent Defence Forces Representative Association (PDFORRA) signed up to the Lansdowne Road Agreement, also known as the Public Service Stability Agreement 2013-2018, in March 2017 in order to offer pay increases to its members. The increases, which will be backdated to 1 January 2016, took effect from July 2017. This included a pay increase of 2.5% from 1 January 2016 on annual salaries up to €24,000 (£21,990.90), a 1% increase from 1 January 2016 on annual salaries between €24,001 and €31,000 (£21,991.82 and £28,404.92), and an increase of €1,000 (£916.29) a year from 1 April 2017 on annual salaries up to €65,000 (£59,558.70).
An extension to the Lansdowne Road Agreement, titled the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020, contains proposals for further pay increases of between 5% and 7% for lower-paid privates and recruits. This proposal is currently under consideration by the representative associations.
Paul Kehoe, minister with responsibility for defence, said: “[This] announcement is good news for those who are considering entering the Permanent Defence Force. The government is committed to the implementation of the Lansdowne Road Agreement which is allowing for a programme of pay restoration for all public servants, including members of the Defence Forces. It recognises the contribution made by public servants during the economic crisis to restoring our public finances and ensures greater pay increases for the lower paid, who are usually new entrants.”