Union reps are in pay advice body

FAR from being a pro-business lobby group, the independent body which found that nurses’ pay rates are not affecting recruitment, has several union representatives in its ranks.

The Public Service Pay Commission was established in 2016 to provide the Government with independent advice in relation to public service pay.

It is chaired by union stalwart Kevin Duffy, who was an official of the Bricklayers’ Union for 15 years before joining the Irish Congress of Trade Unions as assistant general secretary in charge of industrial relations. Other members include Noel Dowling, who worked as a senior official with the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union/Siptu for more than 30 years. He served on the board of the European Transport Federation for many years and is currently a member of the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

Fellow board member Peter McLoone was general secretary of the Impact union from 1995 until his retirement in 2010 and was president of the Irish Congress of Trades Unions from 2005 to 2007. Even some of the non-union board members have a career history in the public sector behind them.

Michael Kelly was a career public servant until 2006 and spent most of his career in the health sector, ultimately as secretary general of the Department of Health.

While other board members are from the private sector, they have served on public-sector boards. Marian Corcoran serves on the IDA’s board, Ultan Courtney is on the board of CIÉ and Ruth Curran is a board member of the National Maternity Hospital Foundation.