Results 24,701-24,720 of 34,778 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: 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...

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, the €900 is proper. Surely somewhere in that range, it would have been consistent for the State to acknowledge that on the one hand, people are entitled to a medical card based on their income, while on the other hand, they-----

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: If the Minister were to revisit that in next year's budget, would it require a further amendment to the financial emergency measures in the public interest legislation?

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: Therefore, it cannot be done without coming back to the legislation. Is that correct?

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 when and where was the Lansdowne Road agreement registered? I know there is an obvious answer but I would like it to be on the record. There were various side agreements on a variety of issues done as part of the overall talks on this agreement. I read recently in the newspapers, for example, about an agreement on school secretaries and caretakers involving...

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 will remind the Minister so he does not trip himself up. He said when they had all these heads in the room from all these sides, there were a whole lot of niggly things that had been bubbling away for the past few years. He said they dealt with them all on a one-to-one basis and several agreements were struck but were not part of the Lansdowne Road agreement itself or the formal process....

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: My final question is in the interest of transparency and accountability. I went down this road before to try to get sight of some of these agreements but I was bluntly told that they were not available and were exempt from freedom of information, which I believe they are.

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 think the LRC is exempt from freedom of information.