Stormont ministers have agreed to release £688 million (€803m) to make outstanding pay awards for public sector workers in Northern Ireland.
Individual departments have each been given an allocation and will negotiate with relevant trade unions on the pay rises that will be introduced.
Departments were allocated more than £1 billion in total, with £380m of non-pay related resources to be spent addressing immediate pressures and overspends.
Ministers also agreed to distribute £83.5m for capital spending.
There has been major strike action in Northern Ireland recently as multiple unions have protested over the failure to make pay awards during Stormont’s power-sharing impasse.
The restoration of the executive earlier this month opened the way for a resolution to the disputes and many unions have suspended plans for further industrial action pending the outcome of talks with Stormont departments.
The money was included in the UK government’s £3.3m package to support the restoration of the devolved administration.
However, the funds to address public sector pay awards only cover the current financial year and it will be up to executive ministers to budget for sustaining wage levels into the future.
The allocation of the money to departments was agreed by ministers at an executive meeting following a proposal by Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly accompanied Ms Archibald as they announced the move to reporters at Stormont Castle.
“We were determined to make some early decision and I’m glad that we’ve been able to do that,” Ms O’Neill said.
“We had said that whenever we returned as an executive that we would work towards making sure that workers had fair pay.
“So, I’m delighted to say that today the executive, on the recommendation of the finance minister, has decided to allocate over £685 million which will allow conversations now to commence between employers and trade unions in relation to public sector pay.”
Ms O’Neill said ministers were at one in continuing to fight for more money from London.
“I know we are united as an executive in terms of the challenges that we have ahead of us but also the need to ensure that we have a properly funded public service model,” she said.
Ms Little-Pengelly added: “The people of Northern Ireland deserve public services that work for them.
“We know that there’s big challenges within our public services but, of course, we must recognise that the people who deliver those public services, our public servants, deserve fair pay.
“And that’s why this step today of the allocation of £685 million for the purposes of negotiation, and hopefully quick settlement, is a really welcome one.
“We do want to get these issues resolved because our public sector workers have deserved that fair pay, but they have deserved that before this point.
“So we do hope that we’re able to resolve that and I welcome the fact that the £3.3 billion package secured with the UK government has been able to enable this announcement today in terms of the settlement for this year.”
Ms Archibald said she was “delighted” to secure executive approval for the allocation.
“This is a really good day for our public sector workers who’ve had to wait too long for their pay award, for our health care workers, our teachers, our police, our civil servants, and it will enable negotiations to begin immediately with trade unions,” she said.
“And I want to see those conclude as quickly as possible to ensure that workers are getting a fair pay award and that they’re actually seeing that money in their pay packets as quickly as possible.
“I think it’s also a good signal coming from this executive that we are working together to deliver for people in the most challenging of circumstances.”
Meanwhile, Ms O’Neill and Ms Little-Pengelly have given a lukewarm response to Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin’s support for reform of the devolved institutions.
The Alliance Party has been calling for a reworking of the way in which the Northern Ireland Executive is constituted to enable parties other than the largest nationalist and unionist parties to fill the roles of first and deputy first ministers.
Speaking during a Dáil debate yesterday, Mr Martin said he believed that change was required but he did not specify which aspects of the institutions should be reformed.
Additional reporting Vincent Kearney
