David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 17:

In page 46, lines 1 to 23, to delete subsections (3) and (4) and substitute the following:

"(3) Pensions payable under the Scheme shall be indexed in line with the Consumer Price Index.".

I will be brief because I am interested in the Minister's response. We support the move to index pensions in payment in line with the consumer price index, CPI. Our difficulty with it is in the wording which creates uncertainty as it allows for the increase to be implemented at the Minister's discretion. I am aware that was the subject of a debate in the Lower House as well.

This section allows for the review of the pension in payment in line with the CPI, with which we do not have a difficulty but we are seeking to remove the ministerial discretion because we believe there must be certainty in that regard and it should be reviewed on a yearly basis. It is on that basis that we tabled this amendment. We believe there must be consistency. Workers must have confidence that their pensions will be re-evaluated in line with the consumer price index basis every year, and that is in step with their equivalence in other sectors.

That is an issue which was the subject of a great deal of lobbying, and I am sure the Minister was lobbied on it. We were, and we met a number of groups which had difficulties with some of what is contained in the legislation and requested that we table amendments to this effect. That is a serious concern of ours in regard to the Minister's discretionary element and we want to make sure that the pensions of people who work in the public sector are re-evaluated in line with the consumer price index year on year and not be just subject to ministerial discretion. I look forward to the Minister's response.