Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 8:

In page 13, between lines 6 and 7, to insert the following:

“Report on public service pensions

8. The Minister shall, within one month of the passing of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2015, prepare a report on the number of people whose annualised amount of public service pension exceeds €34,132.”.

On Committee Stage we discussed the matter of people over various rates of pension, for example, €34,132. What we find under the legislation is that people with a pension of that amount would have full restoration of their public service pension reduction during the lifetime of the agreement but people over that rate would not achieve a full restoration. The amount of €34,132 possibly equates to people who were on salaries of approximately €65,000, which was a benchmark figure in the Haddington Road agreement.

I tabled an amendment on the issue on Committee Stage and it was ruled out of order as a possible charge on the Exchequer. I have now approached the matter in a different way because the Retired Civil and Public Servants Association, which the Minister said he did meet, is still not happy that a number of its members will be excluded from the improved position for those who are in receipt of a pension of less than €34,132. The association also said there is another problem given the age group of the cohort in question. The people are retired public servants and they are being asked to wait for a number of years to get the benefits that will accrue to their pension above the figure of €34,132. Nothing in the agreement for the next three years will allow those on pensions above that figure to have the same benefit as people whose pension is below that figure.

We discussed the current situation on Committee Stage. I believe what the Minister said at the time. He was sincere in what he said and I was happy with the tone of his response at the time. However, as the agreement runs until 2018, the legislation as it stands specifies that the matter can be re-examined in three years’ time for people on pensions of more than €34,132. That is no good to elderly people who are in their 70s or 80s at this stage, who are being told that portion of their pension will be looked at in three years’ time to see whether an improvement could be made at that stage. The Minister has made the position clear in the course of the detailed debate, which follows on from Deputy Healy’s comment earlier on which we had a debate of one hour on Committee Stage. He is essentially saying the emergency will continue for a number of years into the future because the Government will not be able to restore everything in one fell swoop.

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