Results 24,661-24,680 of 34,745 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: Will the Minister clarify whom the section is aimed at? About what particular group are we talking?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: For the benefit of everyone watching, are this section's provisions included in the Lansdowne Road agreement?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: Was section 4 negotiated in that context or is it something that the Minister is now inserting? Was the extension of the periods negotiated under that agreement?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: Will the Minister clarify something for me, as I am unsure about it? I have a simple view. If this provision is covered by the Lansdowne Road agreement and has been accepted by the majority of trade unions, that should be it. If this does not form part of that agreement, that is a different kettle of fish. Is the provision changing increments' dates in the Lansdowne Road agreement? I am...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: Complex.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: I am listening carefully.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: I am trying to elicit information here. This legislation is designed to facilitate the Landsdowne Road agreement. That agreement cannot be ratified unless this legislation is passed.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: I have the Landsdowne Road agreement in front of me and in paragraph 5.4-----

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: I am concerned with paragraph 5.4.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: I have no problem reading both paragraphs.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: Okay. Paragraph 5.4 states:The Government has also indicated that it intends to provide in the legislation for a grace period consistent with the term of this Agreement during which both the reduction in pay and any deferral of increment progression provided for under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act, 2013 will be disregarded.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: I have no problem doing so because I want to understand this properly. Paragraph 5.5 states:The Parties note that, notwithstanding the improvement of the country’s fiscal position, [there is no emergency] the legislative constraints imposed on public service employers under the financial emergency legislation will continue to be the context for pay determination during the lifetime of...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: Yes. In other words, the Minister is saying to me that the increment freeze periods that were due to expire in three years and in 2016 under the Haddington Road and the Landsdowne Road agreements are being extended for the term of the latter agreement, up to 2018.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: We are dealing with the whole issue of pensions. The Alliance of Retired Public Servants has been meeting and speaking with many members and I am aware it met the Minister since Second Stage. It is unhappy with the outcome. Retired pensioners were excluded from the Lansdowne talks yet a section in this legislation is specifically for them. Clearly section 6 has nothing to do with the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: It is about people's pensions. No retired public servants were represented at the talks and they feel that has been a major disadvantage. I understand there are up 140,000 retired public servants and that the changes over the three years of this agreement will take many of them out of it. However, quite a number will still come under it. I have no interest in people who are on very high...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: I had asked in my amendment No. 13, which I cannot move, that the limit be increased to €50,000. That would take a very large number of retired public servants out of the public service pension reduction. It would leave those who were on very high salaries in the first place, who would be on a pension over that amount, not exempt. That is fair enough. We are not here to look after...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: They included the ESB, the Garda Síochána and teachers.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: It equates to double that amount.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: At what rate?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015: Committee Stage (10 Nov 2015)

Seán Fleming: Will the Minister distribute his note to committee members afterwards? I picked a figure in the order of €50,000 or an impact of over €900 for a reason. An elderly couple are entitled to medical cards if their income is under €900. These people would be in the over 70 category. Yet, they are being charged the public service pension reduction on a figure that...