Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 222: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if a gratuity payment will be introduced for persons who have served long years as caretakers in schools and for whom there is no formal pension provision. [37466/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Schools caretakers are employed directly by school management authorities or vocational education committees. Caretakers in vocational schools are employed and paid by the appropriate VEC. Those employed on a wholetime basis have been pensionable for many years. Those employed on a part-time basis for 18 hours per week or more have the option of joining the pension scheme, under transitional arrangements introduced in 1996.

Caretakers employed on a wholetime basis in community and comprehensive schools have also been pensionable for many years. No provision has been made, as yet, for the admission to pensionability of part-time caretakers in community and comprehensive schools. In the case of voluntary secondary schools and in the case of the majority of primary schools, each school receives a grant from the Department of Education and Science for the provision of caretaking and other ancillary services. It is a matter for the school to determine how best to meet its caretaking requirements. No public service pension scheme exists for caretakers employed in such schools.

Under a limited scheme introduced in 1979, wholetime caretakers employed by 196 primary schools are paid salary by the Department of Education and Science. Following discussions with staff representatives, arrangements for the introduction of a pension scheme for such caretakers are currently being put in place. The question of pension cover for school staff, whether wholetime or part-time, who are not covered by an occupational pension scheme, is among the issues that fall to be considered in the context of the implementation of the Protection of Employees (Fixed-term Work) Act 2003 and the Protection of Employees (Part-time Work) Act 2001. Consultations with the education partners are ongoing regarding the implementation of these Acts. The question of whether a gratuity payment would be appropriate will be considered in the case of staff who, following the consultative process, remain excluded from pensionability.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 223: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the personal retirement savings account options which was established for persons who have been working in the education sector who do not have any present pension arrangements. [37467/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Arising from the provisions of the Pensions (Amendment) Act 2002, employers are obliged to facilitate access to personal retirement savings accounts, PRSAs, for some categories of employees in certain circumstances. The obligation arises where the employer does not operate a pension scheme, limits eligibility for membership of a scheme or imposes a waiting period for membership greater than six months from the start of employment.

Employers are required to provide access for excluded employees to one or more PRSA providers. The employer is also obliged to make deductions from payroll at the excluded employee's request in respect of the standard PRSA administered by the provider with whom the employer has a contractual arrangement.

Only a minority of school employees who are paid salary through the Department's payroll are excluded from membership of the pension schemes administered by the Department. The Department has, in consultation with the relevant staff representative bodies, nominated PRSA providers for such excluded staff and, at the request of the staff concerned, will make PRSA deductions from salary and pay them to the nominated provider.

In the case of employees who are paid directly by school authorities or other educational institutions, the Department has advised these bodies of the obligations imposed on them in providing excluded staff with access to PRSAs. There is no obligation on an employer to make any contribution to a PRSA. Schools and other educational institutions have been advised of the position in this regard and have also been notified, in compliance with guidance issued by the Department of Finance to all Departments, that it is not envisaged that public service employers would make such a contribution.