196. Deputy John Clendennen asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation further to correspondence (details supplied), the engagement he or members of his Department has had with an organisation on the topic of (details supplied) and the outcome of any such engagement. [66258/26]

197. Deputy John Clendennen asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation further to correspondence (details supplied); the engagement he or members of his Department has had with an organisation on a topic; and the outcome of any such engagement. [66257/26]

198. Deputy John Clendennen asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation whether excluding retired medical scientists (having retired pre 1/1/2024) from the Labour Court-recommended pay adjustments implemented for medical scientists active or retiring from 01/01/2024, is consistent with past practice on pension parity for public servants. [66255/26]

199. Deputy John Clendennen asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if he will agree to and action the pay increase (details supplied). [66254/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 196 to 199, inclusive, together.

The pay adjustments arising from the Medical Scientist Grades Assessment were implemented following a 2023 Labour Court recommendation, which provides for their application no later than 1 January 2024 and subsequently formed part of the Pubic Service Agreement 2024-2026.

The revised rates introduced under Circular 2/2024 represented a regrading and movement to a new salary scale for Medical Scientist grades, effective from 1 January 2024. It is established practice that in such cases, the changes are not passed on to those who retired before its implementation.

The application of the new Medical Scientist Grade is in line with Public Service Pension Policy in this regard, i.e. where a post is upgraded, the terms of the upgrade apply from the date of the sanctioned upgrade. Terms do not apply retrospectively to previous post-holders, either employees who formerly held the post or retirees who previously held the post. This pertains across all grades of staff across the public service. This policy position has been subsequently supported by the Labour Court.

Accordingly, the exclusion of Medical Scientists who retired before 1 January 2024 from these specific adjustments is consistent with long-standing practice across the public service and with the operation of pension parity arrangements.