Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 108 and 113 together.

As the Deputies will be aware, CE supervisors and CE assistant supervisors have been seeking for several years, through their union representatives, the allocation of Exchequer funding to implement a 2008 Labour Court recommendation on the provision of a pension scheme for CE supervisors and assistant supervisors who are employed by CE scheme sponsors. This claim creates some difficulties because the State is not the direct employer of the supervisors. Within this context, officials from my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform held discussions on proposals to progress and to resolve this complex issue while having regard to the wider budgetary framework. Officials from my Department also held discussions with unions representing CE supervisors and assistant supervisors.

At the start of April agreement was reached with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on proposals to resolve the long-standing issue. These proposals include a financial package. I am confident these proposals are a solid basis for progressing and resolving this complex issue. Discussions on these proposals are ongoing between my Department and the unions representing CE supervisors and assistant supervisors. The unions have made some observations and these are now being examined by my officials in conjunction with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. My officials continue to progress this matter as a priority, and I hope these discussions can reach a conclusion in the near future.

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