Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)

I raise an issue that goes to the heart of the fairness and equality of public service employment, which is the treatment of single teachers under the revised spouse and children's pension scheme, introduced by the Department of Education and Youth under Circular PEN14/05. Since September 2005, every teacher appointed in the public service has been automatically enrolled in the scheme. Membership is compulsory. It deducts 1.5% of gross salary from take home pay every month to fund the benefit, payable only to surviving spouses, civil partners and dependant children, yet under section 6 of this same circular, the right of the single person to a refund that existed under the previous scheme was abolished. Today, a teacher from Carrignavar or somewhere else in my constituency with no dependants, who paid for benefits throughout their entire career will not receive one. There is no refund, no opt-out and no credit at retirement or death. That means in real terms that teachers on €55,000 per annum pay almost €825 a year, or almost €29,000 over a 35-year career deducted from their salaries with no possible return. To my mind, that is not contribution; that is an inequitable levy imposed on those through either choice or circumstances who are unmarried without children.

It penalises the single person, predominantly women, and sits uneasy with the values of a modern republic that claims to guarantee equality before the law. Article 40.1 of the Constitution enshrines equality. The Employment Equality Act 1998 prohibits discrimination on marital status, yet here we have the State acting as an employer, forcing a deduction that treats single people differently from married people. It is totally unequal. I ask the Tánaiste and his Government if they will intervene and lead a cross-party departmental review with the Ministers for education and public expenditure to examine the operations and fairness of the revised spouse and children's pension scheme, access to mechanisms to refund an opt-out credit for those who are contributing without dependents, and engage formally with unions and equality bodies to deliver a fair and modern reformed system. This is not about money; this is about fairness, respect, and equality for every public servant - married, single, gay, straight, male or female. It is about righting the wrong of an injustice that has persisted for almost two decades.

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