Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On foot of decisions taken by this Government, serving Ministers, as I indicated clearly yesterday, will not benefit from any pay restoration as set out in the FEMPI Bill 2015.  Former Ministers will benefit only to the extent that all former public servants will benefit in the Government's highly progressive programme of pension restoration. There is no such thing as a bonanza for anybody.

The Haddington Road agreement, HRA, included commitments to restore the pay of serving public servants who took an additional pay cut in 2013. Following negotiation between public service employers, unions and associations, an extension of the HRA, the Lansdowne Road agreement, was negotiated and ratified by the public service unions. The FEMPI Bill includes the necessary legislative provisions to give effect to the terms of the agreement. Notwithstanding the provisions included in the Bill, which apply to all public servants, including elected public servants, the Government, in approving the terms of the Lansdowne Road agreement, decided that Ministers and special advisers should not avail of the pay restoration and pension-related deduction, PRD, now provided for in the FEMPI Bill. 

The Government has decided on a highly progressive amelioration of the specific measures applied to the pensions of former public servants. I have ensured that the proposals included in the Bill to reduce the impact of public service pension reduction, PSPR, will significantly favour low paid public service pensioners. Specifically, the FEMPI Bill provides for a maximum part-restoration of €400 in 2016, an additional €500 from 2017 and €780 from 2018. That is for everybody; nobody will get more than that. The Bill also retains the increased rate of 28% PSPR applied to that amount of pension in excess of €100,000 which was enacted by the Bill I brought before the House in 2013.

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