John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

253. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if under the terms of the recent Haddington Road agreement pension reductions imposed on public sector pensions in receipt of pensions of €32,500 and over will be reimbursed over the course of the agreement or subsequently; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33139/13]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Haddington Road Agreement (HRA) does not contain any pension reduction measure. In drawing up the HRA, the Labour Relations Commission expressly recognised that Government plans for certain public service pension reductions did not form part of the proposals which comprise the HRA. The relevant paragraph in the HRA, headed “Public Service Pensions”, reads as follows: “Separately to this Agreement, the Parties note that the Government intends to align the reductions in public service pensions in payment with the reductions applied to serving staff. The Parties note that this measure will apply to pensions in payment greater than €32,500 only.”

Reductions in those public service pensions valued in excess of €32,500 duly took effect on 1 July 2013, on foot of provisions in the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2013, and accomplished by recourse to the “Public Service Pension Reduction” (PSPR), which was originally introduced in 2011. It is important to emphasize that these July 2013 pension reductions only apply to higher-value public service pensions. The relevant legislation does not contain any provision for the reimbursement of those pension reductions. However these latest pension reductions, representing as they do one of a series of legislated financial emergency measures affecting public service pay and pensions, fall to be reviewed annually by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, as provided for in section 12 of the 2013 Act. The next such review, with written report to be provided to the Houses of the Oireachtas, is due to take place no later than 30 June 2014.