Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Mulvey to the committee. I am delighted with his appointment as chair of An Post. In the end of his engagement with Deputy Crowe, Mr. Mulvey summed up perfectly how An Post is viewed by the public as well as by itself, as a proud, unique public service offering in this country, which needs to be protected and re-energised to evolve with modern times. I think it is doing that, by and large.

The one issue I wanted to focus on today relates to An Post pensioners. It is an issue I have raised a number of times with the Minister in the Dáil Chamber. Given Mr. Mulvey's professional experience, who was described an industrial relations troubleshooter when he got this role, which I think does a disservice to his full professional achievements but is nonetheless not untrue, he might give this some attention. It stems back to section 46 of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983. Civil servants who were forcibly transferred through that Act were given a commitment that their entitlements would never diminish but there has been a failure to apply pay parity post the 2008 crash in accordance with the Civil Service rules. It is not dissimilar to the section 39 rules whereby, at that time, people who were being paid out of the public purse in some fashion and were obviously active workers, were not getting the increase. There is a similar principle at play here with these pensioners. I imagine many of them are watching here today, because any time this comes up in the Dáil or in committee, they are a very engaged group. They feel hard done by and rightly so.

Since vesting day, their contribution became a class D contribution, and the way things have evolved, their real income is less than what it would be on a State contributory pension. That is the fact of where we are now. Mr. Mulvey will know, with pensions, pension transfers, multiple items of legislation and so on, that there are complications, but ultimately these pensioners have found themselves in a disadvantageous financial position. That could be remedied and rectified if there was the will to do so. I think they would be welcomed here. The pension fund is in rude health, as Mr. Mulvey said in his previous contribution. When dealing with these pensioners, they are not just formal meetings. I am stopped on the street. I was stopped most recently on Monday in Portmarnock by a pensioner. They are still proud of the fact that they are An Post workers, despite feeling they have not been treated well with regard to their pension entitlements, but they are still proud ambassadors of An Post. They are proud of the careers they have had and the time they have given. They are connected with the organisation. You see that in a number of organisations in the country that have proud public service records and traditions. An Post is one. It is a group that is worthy of a bit of attention. There are enough resources there. It is between An Post management and the trustees to work on that. We have been trying to lever the Minister on it as best we can but ultimately it is down to management. If Mr. Mulvey has any further comment on that, I would really appreciate it.