Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

My colleague, the Minister for Public Enterprise and Reform, has taken rigorous action to change things for the future. As a result of arrangements that were made in the past, it is very difficult to deal with certain legal entitlements. Special provision was made for Secretaries General whose terms of appointment included the top level appointments committee exit terms. These terms are currently being reviewed by the Minister, Deputy Howlin. He is changing them completely. When I first came into politics, the Secretaries General of Departments were appointed until the retirement age of 65. That arrangement was brought to an end by the late John Boland when he was Minister for the Public Service. Secretaries General are now appointed under a contract for a specific term. If someone is appointed as a Secretary General at the age of 45 and leaves that position at the age of 53, he or she could receive additional payments on retirement if they were included in the package when it was being negotiated. That is why things have run so big, as in the case of the former Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach, which was well publicised recently. All of that is being changed by the Minister, Deputy Howlin. Deputy Keating will have noted that many public servants objected loudly to the new pensions arrangements for public servants when they were published last week. Under those arrangements, the pension levels that are paid will decrease. We are having to make adjustments of this nature as a result of the difficulties we are facing. It is not easy for any beneficiary to have to live under a new regime. It is very hard to make any of these things retrospective.

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