Met Éireann forced to pull €10,000 ‘leapfrog’ pay offer to job candidates

MET Éireann has been forced to pull an offer of a pay hike of almost €10,000 for new meteorologists by Paschal Donohoe’s Expenditure Department.

The weather forecasting service had offered successful candidates the tempting possibility of leapfrogging up their pay scale after three years in the job.

A candidate information booklet said staff could skip three increments on their pay scale after three years, and move from a €34,922 a year wage to €44,706 if they performed well in the job. The meteorologist pay scale starts at €31,835 and gradually rises to €81,485.

The vacancies were advertised by the Public Appointments Service and there was a closing date for applications last week.

When contacted yesterday, a Met Éireann spokesman initially said the wage hike clause was “under review” by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Later, he confirmed it was being withdrawn. “There were communications issues,” he said. “This clause shouldn’t have been allowed. It was a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.”

He said the weather service must now decide whether it will run a new competition or continue with the same one without the pay jump offer.

The national secretary of Fórsa’s Civil Service Division, Andy Pike, said: “For candidates who applied for the posts on the understanding that jump increments were available, the unilateral withdrawal of this agreed provision is an absolute shambles.”

The department said the provision was “included in error and this is now being corrected”.