Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 482: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her views on extending the 26 week period referred to in Circular 10/048 (4)(B), to one year to facilitate teachers who took leave from service to undertake postgraduate studies and were not on the payroll during the 26 week period prior to 1 April 2004; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25176/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004 was enacted following the Government's consideration of the Final Report of the Commission on Public Service Pensions. That report included a recommendation that the age of retirement for new entrants to the public service be changed from an age range of 60 to 65 years to a single retirement age of 65. There were some exceptions to this where special retirement terms apply for operational reasons.

Section 2 of that Act provides that a person appointed as a public servant on or after 1 April 2004 will be considered a new entrant. A new entrant is a public servant who will not be required to retire on grounds of age and for whom pension benefits will not normally be payable before the age of 65 years. There are a number of exceptions to this. Where a person was employed as a public servant on 31 March 2004 and was on leave or secondment on that date then that person will not be treated as a new entrant on their return to work. In addition, a person will not be considered a new entrant where he or she was serving in a public body before 31 March 2004 or leaves public service employment now and returns to the public service under the same contract of employment or within 26 weeks of having left. Therefore the 26 week rule does not apply to public servants on approved leave of absence with a right to return to their employment. The period of 26 weeks is consistent with similar provisions dealing with continuous employment in other employment law statutes. Any change to this period would require a change the primary legislation which affects public service pensions generally. This is a matter primarily for the Minister for Finance but I understand that there are no plans to amend the law in this area.