Results 2,501-2,520 of 11,861 for speaker:Brian Hayes

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: I am just clarifying the point that some people make the charge that an enormous change has not occurred in the totality of expenditure. The point I am making is that in a three year period €2.5 billion has been taken out of the totality of public sector pay and pensions and, I hasten to add, there is another €1 billion to go but it is an example of the road that has been...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: What the Deputy refers to is misleading. Equally, it is misleading for the Deputy or anyone else to posit the view that simply going after people in receipt of pensions of €100,000 or more will make a huge difference in terms of the totality of the saving. I just make that observation as the Deputy referred to the point as misleading. What I am happy about is the fact that the...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: I am not dismissing it.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: The subhead refers to lump sum payments.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: The new figure of €522 million we are seeking consists of three elements, namely, the sum of €485 million the Department has spent to date, a sum of €32 million for the two remaining months of the year and an additional €5 million for lump sum payments. The Estimate of slightly more than €500 million is being superseded by the Supplementary Estimate of...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: I can provide the figures thanks to Deputy Mary Lou McDonald who submitted a number of useful parliamentary questions on this issue recently. Before reading the figures for the total numbers of Civil Service pensioners and the amounts they receive, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform made a crucial point in this regard recently when he noted that 1% of public service pensioners...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: The following figures which were provided in July thanks to Deputy Mary Lou McDonald show that the numbers of retired public servants in receipt of a pension of between €50,000 and €60,000, €60,000 and €70,000, €70,000 and €80,000, €80,000 and €90,000 and more than €90,000 were 769, 57, 171, 23 and 85, respectively. This means...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: Yes.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: The figure of 85 for July had fallen to 84 in September, which suggests someone may have died.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: No, my apologies. The most up-to-date figures show that 84 people are in receipt of a pension of more than €100,000.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: With all due respect, I should clarify that the figures refer to people who are retiring now rather than existing pensioners.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: Yes.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: Deputy Sean Fleming is correct that of the 15,502 retired civil servants in the system, 84 have a pension of more than €100,000.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: If the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform were present, he would point out that the Government reduced pensions of more than €100,000 by 20%. This measure was implemented in the context of the financial emergency legislation introduced in 2009 by the Government led by Deputy Sean Fleming's party. The legislation in question was extended by the Government and stringent...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: I note the Deputy's request.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: The Deputy is ahead of the rest of us.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: Yes, that is exactly right. As the Chairman is aware, the Government plans to reduce the total size of the public sector from 320,000 to 282,500. I think the current figure is approximately 290,000. To answer the Chairman's question directly, the additional retirements will be factored into these figures. A greater than expected number of people have retired this year. My understanding...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: Can I deal with those two issues first?

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: It might help the Deputy to hear my explanation for them. I will begin with the second issue. We got it wrong. The Deputy's question is the first one I ask as Minister of State when people come to me looking for Supplementary Estimates. The dilemma in this case is that we depend on other Departments to tell us how many retirements we are getting. Any public servant who is over the age of...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Estimates for Public Services 2012
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Supplementary) (28 Nov 2012)

Brian Hayes: I want to be fair about this. Over €500 million is provided for in Vote 12. We are looking for €25 million today. That represents a deviation of 5% by 31 December on what was in the Estimate on 1 January. Fair is fair. At a time when we are dealing with more extended exits from the public sector than ever before, and given that we are relying on information coming back from...