Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 152: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will reconsider the 26 week rule whereby teachers with experience on temporary contracts who subsequently emigrate for work are considered new entrants on their return to Ireland with consequent implications for their pay and pensions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7298/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2004 abolished the maximum age of retirement for new entrants to employment in the public service from 1 April 2004. It also raised the minimum pension age for new entrants to age 65. In general terms, a new entrant to employment in the public service (including employment as a teacher) is a person who enters public service employment for the first time on or after 1 April 2004, (including employment in a temporary or fixed-term capacity, whether full-time, or part-time), OR, a person who becomes re-employed in the public service, (including employment as a teacher) following a break of more than 26 weeks, where that break occurred at anytime on or after 1 April 2004).

The provisions of this legislation are of general application to public servants and there are no proposals to make exceptions for any particular individual or group.

As part of Budget 2011, introduced by the previous Fianna Fáil-Green Party government, a 10% reduction in the pay of new appointees to the public service applies from 1 January 2011 and all new recruits to the entry grades of the public service will start at the first point of the relevant pay scale without exception. A person in the situation referred to by the Deputy who had service prior to 1 January 2011 is not regarded as a new entrant for this purpose.