The first steps to establishing a public sector pay commission will be taken by the Cabinet this morning.
The commission is to be tasked with making recommendations by the middle of next year in a bid to influence a successor to the Lansdowne Road Agreement.
The government has insisted the LRA is the 'only show in town' and is the only way for public servants to secure some pay restoration.
But it'll expire in 2018, meaning a new agreement will have to be negotiated in time to be announced in the budget in October of next year.
This morning the Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe will ask Cabinet to approve a consultation process.
That will begin next week and last about a month before the commission gets underway proper in teh autumn.
Along with members of the public, trade unions and employers in both teh public and private sectors will be able to make submissions.
After the consultation the cabinet will then be asked to establish the commission in the autumn and it'll look at benchmarking pay to public sectors in the UK and other European countries and is likely to examine giving higher pay rises to doctors, nurses and other staff that are difficult to retain.
It must make recommendations to the Government by the second quarter of next year.
