Results 16,181-16,200 of 16,537 for speaker:Brian Lenihan Jnr
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: It is still under discussion. This Bill will have a big impact on military pension arrangements. For example, the current retirement age is 40 but this is being raised under this legislation. The purpose of this section is to enable the Minister for Defence, with the agreement of the Minister for Finance, to make a scheme for the purpose of granting superannuation benefits to new entrant...
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: This has always been the case.
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: In a sense, we are revisiting Second Stage, although the matter arises on Committee Stage. While the current Minister for Education and Science is a determined man, I am not sure he will be a significant feature on the political landscape when these provisions bite in 2044. This is a fundamental point with regard to the Bill.
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: We are not reneging on anything. It was suggested that the Minister was not engaged. The Minister and the Government engaged with the report of the Commission on Public Service Pensions and acted on its recommendation, albeit not a unanimous one, that 65 years should be the retirement age for teachers. A group of persons who examined this issue decided it was a reasonable proposal. I...
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: Will the Senator refresh my memory?
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Minister made his own decisions on that issue.
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: Most of his backbenchers were.
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: This is a discussion about the chasm between a defined right, entitlement or status as a member of the public service, whether on paid or unpaid leave, and a mere expectation that having relinquished and resigned from that position, one should have a special recognised legislative right to be treated unlike anybody else by virtue simply of the fact that one had served 15 years in the public...
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: Subsection (5) deals with the Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas or the European Parliament and holders of qualifying office. A person is not deemed a new entrant once the person was a Member of either House or the European Parliament or the holder of a qualifying office before 1 April 2004. Even if they lose their seat or are appointed a Minister subsequently, they are not captured by...
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: The category of a public servant is much wider in the legislation than the category of Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas, the European Parliament or holders of qualifying office. The very specific reference to them creates the break that allows them to continue to function as not new entrants for future purposes. That is my understanding of these sections. The Senator also mentioned the...
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: Precisely. Secondment usually means that one's employer continues to pay one but there exists also the concept of unpaid secondment or leave. It usually relates to continuity of payment by the main employer and usually there is a written agreement between the bodies when there is a secondment. Sometimes it can be used to cover unpaid leave where, for administrative reasons, a person moves to...
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: Section 2(4)(II) refers to the definition of a new entrant. The transitional provisions are referred to in section 2(4). Section 2(4)(b) refers to a person serving in a public service body. It states: [Where] a person was serving in a public body or a body to which Schedule I relates prior to 31 March 2004 and left such an office or position and took up appointment as a public servant on or...
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: This is to clarify that the offer of appointment is a binding offer.
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: The purpose of this is to provide for seasonal workers who are called back each year, for example, temporary clerical staff who are employed seasonally at the passport office. While they may receive a new contract each year their rights and entitlements accrue from year to year so it is, in effect, the same contract of employment. It is to ensure there is no break in this provision.
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: They are not new entrants.
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: Those people are on panels.
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: In the public service there are many instances of persons who are on panels for relief work and so forth, or work in the passport office. They have accrued employment rights, must be given first refusal each year, are entitled to incremental credit and seniority claims and they are pensionable. There is a category of staff within the branches of the public service of this type and references...
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: This does not apply to a person who has resigned from the service. It applies to a circumstance where there is an established custom and practice concerning the person who happens not to be at work on the operative date, but has a right to take up employment there. Someone who resigns from the public service does not have a right to return to the service.
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: They are not employed under a contract. We are back to our chasm.
- Seanad: Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 Feb 2004)
Brian Lenihan Jnr: Unfortunately it is neither. Someone who resigns from the public service does not have a right to return to the public service.