Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will quote for the record the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, who replied to a Topical Issue on this subject when Deputy Duncan Smith and I raised it 12 months ago:

on 9 March 2023, An Post wrote to the Department seeking consent to the second phase of their current pay agreement which provides for a 2% increase in pay from 1 January 2023. In addition to this, on foot of a recent Labour Court decision, An Post also wrote to the Department on 9 March seeking approval to make increases to pensions in payment and deferred pensions of a 5% increase from 1 January 2022 and a 1% increase from 1 July 2023.

[...]

Circular 16/2021 states that pension approval requests should be submitted for approval well in advance of any decision to implement changes and acknowledgement of the necessary process that must be completed. In order to ensure that pension increases are not unduly delayed, it should be recognised that the time taken for the pension approval process is necessary to ensure that robust governance procedures are in place.

We have not seen any progress on this issue. I hope the Minister of State will not give exactly the same reply we received from the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, 12 months ago. I hope the issue has moved on and that progress is being made.

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