Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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104. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if in the proposed public sector pensions reduction legislation a specific amendment will be included to exclude pension benefits resulting from contributions made on a purely commercial basis as for instance in the case where a former worker moves from the private sector to the public sector and transfers the private fund to the public one; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22104/13]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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As the Deputy will be aware, following the rejection by the ICTU Public Services Committee of the Labour Relations Commission proposals for a revised "Croke Park" deal, the Government has requested the Chief Executive of the LRC to make contact with the parties to establish whether or not there is a basis for a negotiated agreement to meet budgetary targets. The Government will reflect on the outcome of this process before deciding on how to secure the required level of savings from public service pay and pensions.

More generally, and as a long-standing norm in public service pension schemes, service which is purchased or transferred in is treated in the same way as ordinary accrued service for the purposes of calculating pension benefits. This parity of treatment also applies in respect of the exposure of pensions to the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR). Since its introduction on 1 January 2011, the PSPR has applied to affected public service pensions in an across-the-board fashion, with no distinction being made in respect of any part of a pension which derives from purchased or transferred service; I have no plans at present to change this arrangement.