Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Before I call the acting Leader to outline the Order of Business, I want to point out that I agree with Members the issue of pay for secretarial staff. The acting Leader will outline this in his response because he is also a member of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission. This item has been dealt with by the commission, month in and month out. The reason Members might not be aware of that is our role on the commission is to do the work quietly. I also raised the issue of the parliamentary staff pensions and the secretarial assistant, SA, pensions. For the benefit of Members, this is an issue we have been discussing with the Government. I will circulate a note on this later and they might make sure they come back to me on the issue. The five-year service pension calculation or the occupational pension for an SA after five years of service is €656.23, not per month, per annum. A pension for ten years is €1,312.46 per annum. After 20 years' service an SA's pension is €2,624.91 per annum. The issues of pensions and pay have been before the commission and will be at the next meeting. The Ceann Comhairle and I have been working on this issue through the commission for a long time, as has the acting Leader, and all the groups represented at the commission meeting. However, that is not an issue that started in this Dáil or this Seanad; it is an ongoing issue, but I would, like all of us, like to see it resolved fairly, as Members have brought up today. I now call on the acting Leader.