Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 274: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the saving to the State if all State agency board members' annual payments were rescinded and instead board membership was awarded without remuneration. [30260/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The three statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department are the Social Welfare Tribunal, the Citizens Information Board and the Pensions Board. In addition, the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman comes under the remit of the Department but it does not have a board.

The members of the Social Welfare Tribunal are not in receipt of an annual remuneration. The Tribunal meets if required to deal with social welfare entitlement issues arising in the context of an industrial disputes. The chairperson is paid a set fee of €488.11 per day sitting and €73.44 for attending meetings. Members are paid a set fee of €136.71 per day sitting and €68.36 for attending meetings.

The Pensions Board is a regulatory body operating under the aegis of the Department and the statutory role of the board is to monitor and supervise the operation of the Pensions Act 1990 (as amended). The operations of the Pensions Board, including payment of fees to the board members, are largely financed by annual fees payable to it by occupational pension schemes and by providers of Personal Retirement Savings Accounts and trust Retirement Annuity Contracts.

The fees paid to members of the Pensions Board in 2010 were €119,700. There would be no saving to the State in the event of these fees being withdrawn as the fees to the board members are funded by the Pensions Industry.

With regard to the Citizens Information Board the maximum amount of fees payable in respect of board members is currently €86,783 per annum. This is in line with the fees payable to members of boards of category 4 non-commercial public service bodies, as outlined in the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009.

Additional information in relation to the boards of the Social Welfare Tribunal, the Citizens Information Board and the Pensions Board is available on the Department's website www.welfare.ie/EN/AboutUs/Pages/stateagencies.aspx

The Pensions Ombudsman is charged with investigating and deciding complaints and disputes concerning occupational pension schemes, trust-based retirement annuity contracts and personal retirement savings accounts (PRSAs). The Office of the Ombudsman does not have a board and therefore no fees in relation to board members occur.