The Government will today announce details of proposed pay increases for the Taoiseach, Ministers, judges and senior civil and public servants, writes Martin Wall, Industry Correpondent.
However, it is understood that the review body on top-level remuneration, which has been examining pay scales for the last year, will recommend that some groups should get no increase at all.
It is also understood that the review body will propose that rises in some cases should be reduced significantly to take account of the value of public-sector pensions.
Some sources said last night that the Review Body on Higher Remuneration will recommend that a weighting of 12-15 per cent should be imposed to take account of pension schemes on offer to senior personnel in the public service.
The review body, chaired by Tony O'Brien, chairman of C&C group, covers Ministers, senior civil servants, senior Garda and Army officers as well as top staff in local authorities and in the health service.
The Department of Finanace argued strongly in its submission to the review body and to the benchmarking process, which examines pay levels for about 300,000 other public sector staff, that greater weight should be given to public-sector pensions.
It pointed to a significant move in recent years by private-sector employers away from defined benefit pension schemes, which offer a guaranteed payout on retirement, towards defined contribution schemes, which leaves the employee with much of the risk.
The department told the review body and the benchmarking body that the public service pension, which sets a defined benefit based on final salary, with subsequent post-retirement increases, was obviously very attractive in light of this.
The Department of Finance has said that before allowing for future pay rises, the overall State pension Bill was expected to increase by 50 per cent over the next seven years, to double in 15 years, and to almost treble by mid-century, from €2 billion in 2006 to €6 billion in 50 years' time.
It is understood that the Department of Finance argued that it would cost about €3 million to purchase a pension providing benefits similar to those enjoyed by secretary generals of government departments on their retirement.
The employers' group Ibec recently argued that the value of the average public sector pension was about 25 per cent of pay, compared with 12 per cent in the private sector.
In July 2005 the review body recommended that ministers and senior public servants should receive pay increases of 7.5 per cent. However, it signalled then that it would take the value of public service pensions into account in assessing top-level pay.
It said in its 2007 report it would consider "the extent the value of public service superannuation arrangements should be offset against remuneration packages available in the private sector".
The Taoiseach earns about €260,000 per year while ministers receive a little more than €200,000.