Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Question 360: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the severance lump sum paid to county managers when they retire; the amount of added years of service included when calculating the retirement package for county managers; if other local authority employees are treated in the same manner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26294/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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There are 5 levels of remuneration for city and county managers ranging from €132,511 for counties such as Carlow and Cavan to €189,301 for Dublin City. These were revised in January 2010 in accordance with Government policy on pay.

Section 147 of the Local Government Act, 2001 deals with the tenure of office of county and city managers. At present, a manager's tenure, at appointment, is for seven years with the possibility of a three year extension if he/she seeks such extension by way of notification to the council in the fifth year of tenure. The retirement age for managers is 65 years.

The pension entitlements of city and county managers are provided for in article 78 of the Local Government (Superannuation) (Consolidation) Scheme 1998.

A manager is entitled to a pension calculated at a rate of 1/80 of pensionable salary per year of service, capped at half of pensionable remuneration and a retirement lump sum calculated at a rate of 3/80 of pensionable salary per year of service, capped at 11⁄2 times pensionable salary.

Where a manager ceases to hold office before the age of 65, and is not re-employed in a local authority, he/she may, depending on his/her length of service, be entitled to added years of between 5 and 10 years. However, most managers tend to have long service records. The added years cannot bring a managers service beyond 40 years in total and cannot add years beyond the service he or she would have gained had they stayed in office to age 65.

In cases where a manager's tenure expires before he/she reaches retirement age a severance payment of the lesser of half of his/her annual salary on the date of cesser of office or potential earnings had he/she remained in Office to 65 is payable.

Where a manager extends his/her contract by the 3 years but does not serve the full extended period, the special added years and severance gratuity provided for under Article 78 are not applicable.

The provisions of Article 78 only apply to managers; however, certain other local authority grades may have an entitlement to added years under Article 66 of the Local Government (Superannuation) (Consolidation) Scheme 1998.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Question 361: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the year in which the current contract for each of the 34 city and county managers will expire; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26295/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Section 147 of the Local Government Act, 2001 deals with the tenure of office of county and city managers. At present, a manager's tenure, at appointment, is for seven years with the possibility of a three year extension if he/she seeks such extension by way of notification to the council in the fifth year of tenure. The retirement age for managers is 65 years.

The information requested regarding the expiry of current contracts for county and city managers is provided in the table.