Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin has said he hopes to open public sector pay talks in the second or third quarter of the year.

“I want to see what the look of the income base of the State is before I open negotiations but what I expect is after the first quarter returns we’ll know roughly what the public sector income is like.”

He said the Haddington Road Agreement would be honoured in full but he did not want to arrive at a “hiatus” at the end of it.

He said he wanted an orderly wind-down of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Fempe) Act in agreement with the public sector unions.