Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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I thank the Chair for allowing me to raise this important issue. I do not expect to use all of the time allocated to me because I am sure the news from the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, will be good and positive. The issue concerns the tardiness of the HSE in ensuring gratuities and pensions due to retirees are paid to them expeditiously.

In recent days reference was made to retired staff who had held senior positions in the HSE being rehired on short-term contracts because of their expertise or specialist skills. Many have rightly aired their annoyance and anger at this practice. One can understand staff being utilised in the circumstances for a short period. Their hiring is necessitated because the incentivised retirement scheme led to large numbers of experienced personnel retiring. Their expertise is now sorely missed.

The issue I am raising concerns the number of personnel who retired from their employment with the HSE in the Dublin mid-Leinster area as far back as February. Psychiatric nurses who, in some cases, served in an exemplary fashion for up to 40 years have not, as of today, received what they are rightfully due and expected to receive without any glitch, namely, their pensions and gratuities. They have been left high and dry. It beggars belief that these circumstances have been allowed to prevail, despite the fact that more than three months have elapsed. It certainly reflects poorly on HSE management.

Most people know my views on the HSE at this stage. The kernel of the problem is that the Department's section that deals with pension entitlements and gratuities did not have the necessary staff complement to enable it to carry out the assessments and compute each individual's entitlements. I know from some contacts that there are no additional staff allocated for this task. Surely, since the retirement scheme was flagged well in advance, HSE senior management should have been able to make a good educated guess as to the likely number of retirees. Accordingly, they should have realised a significant number of personnel were required to ensure the entitlements retirees were due could be calculated, assessed and awarded within three or four weeks.

I acknowledge that the staff involved are working to the best and limit of their abilities to deal with the great workload. The computation of gratuities and pensions is complex and requires specialists. It is unfair to have allowed the staff in question to carry such a huge load. The way this issue has been handled by HSE senior management has been extremely poor, to say the least, and less than inspiring.

I ask that this matter be addressed by the HSE deploying immediately a significant number of personnel to its pensions section in the Dublin mid-Leinster area so as to have the pensions and gratuities paid to the retired staff in question. On what does it expect them to live? Does it expect them to live on fresh air? I have been disgusted by the high-handed treatment they have received. There has been little or no communication or return of their telephone calls, and no response to myself, and I wrote letters on their behalf. This seems to be a trend with the HSE. It does not respond to mere minions like me who are elected by such people to advocate on their behalf.

Let us end this debacle, after more than three months, for these people who have given excellent public service. These people, who have given public service of the highest standard, should not have to wait any longer for their entitlements. I expect a positive reply from the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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If we could only meet everyone's expectations. I am taking this Topical Issue matter on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, and I thank Deputy Penrose for raising it.

The so-called pensions grace period was introduced with effect from 1 January 2010. It provided that the reduction in public service pay, which had effect from the same date, would be disregarded for the purpose of calculating retirement benefits for staff who retired by 29 February 2012. During the period from September 2011 to February 2012, 4,700 staff retired from the public health service. Of this figure, 970 were staff who were not in current service, such as persons availing of preserved benefits or who had been absent on long-term sick leave.

The concentration of retirements in the final months of the grace period necessitated the calculation and payment of benefits at a rate well above normal levels. To deal with this increase in demand in the context of reducing staff numbers, where possible, pensions unit staff worked additional hours on an overtime basis. Every effort is being made to ensure benefits are calculated and paid within a reasonable timeframe. It is important to note that, in general, there is a time lag of four to six weeks between retirement date and the payment of pension. Within this period a retiree would generally receive a final salary payment.

In recent months, with the concentrated volume of retirements, the general processing period has had to be extended to six to eight weeks. To date, the retirement benefits of more than 90% of staff who retired from the public health sector before the end of the grace period have been fully paid out. The processing of benefits in some cases can be complex owing to the variety of contractual arrangements, work patterns and different payment patterns which may have applied throughout the career of the health service employee. Where delays have been experienced or where a retired staff member has requested to be paid some moneys, the HSE has made interim part-payments. This is to minimise financial hardship. This part-payment is made while the retired employee's full career service and pensionable earnings are being verified.

I am aware that recently there have been some resourcing issues in the pensions service in the HSE midlands region. To address this, a pension manager has been assigned, along with three additional staff, to deal with outstanding cases. As a result, good progress has been made and the HSE anticipates the great majority of these cases will have been processed by the end of this month. A small number of more complex cases, which I am sure is what the Deputy is talking about, will take somewhat longer to process, but it is anticipated these will be completed during June.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, for the complex reply. Two of those with whom I am involved have spent almost 40 years in St. Loman's Hospital in Mullingar. They have been working in one area and there is no complexity. I have one who retired some months ago due to ill health and has not received anything. This lady is in a difficult financial position and had to retire on health grounds. We owe it to them.

I was here when the Prompt Payment of Accounts Bill 1997 was enacted under which State bodies got 30 days grace to pay or otherwise there would be penalties. The State is dilatory and negligent. The HSE should have known. Of course, they knew who would retire. If a person had 38 or 39 years' service, anybody would know he or she would retire. All they had to do was check the records. This is not good enough. I will not settle for this type of thing ever happening again. It is something the Minister of State would address.

I compliment the staff who are trying to work to the nth degree and the best of their ability to deal with the matter. Not enough staff were allocated to this task in the Dublin and mid-Leinster region. It is only in recent days they started to get their wheel out after receiving letters. I sent my letter the other day to Mr. Magee, the chief executive officer of the HSE. This should have been well flagged.

If this ever happens again, the outstanding payments should be levied against the State body involved. At the end of the day, suppliers are entitled to get interest if the State does not honour its 30 day commitment, and individuals who have given significant service to the State in their work should likewise be remunerated.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Like Deputy Penrose, I would hope we never again find ourselves in a position where we must introduce a scheme such as this, even though, under the agreement with those who are paying for the ongoing funding of the country, we have agreed we must reduce further. The manner in which this scheme was introduced did no one any favours.

There are approximately 370 remaining grace period retirements still to be paid. Whereas I take on board what Deputy Penrose said about someone who retired as a result of ill health, if an application were made to the HSE, there would be part-payment forthcoming. No one should be left destitute as a result of retiring under a scheme which the Government introduced.

There were staff who, up until two weeks before the deadline, had not notified the Department of Health or anyone else that they were about to retire. In some instances, it was not the case that staff had sent in notice well in advance.

Despite the fact a person may have worked in one institution all of his or her working life, there are issues such as overtime and maternity leave that must be calculated. The last thing we want is that someone does not get the full pension to which he or she would be entitled.