Question to the Minister for Justice and Equality (Ms. Frances Fitzgerald, TD)
To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will consider sanctioning an increase in wages and/or restoring the rent allowance payment for the recent intake of trainee members of An Garda Síochána; and if she will make a statement on the matter. – Jerry Buttimer
For WRITTEN ANSWER on Wednesday, 4 March 2015.
REPLY
Details of the remuneration package, i.e. basic pay and allowances were made available to all applicants prior to the commencement of the current recruitment competition. That competition attracted over 20,000 applications in late 2013 and the most recent batch of recruits joined the force in January of this year. While the remuneration of Garda members is being reviewed under the Haddington Road Agreement, there are no plans to restore the rent allowance or indeed any other allowances that were abolished for all public servants.
The issue of any increase in salary for Garda members is one for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.