Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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316. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the position of teachers who are seeking to retire but are facing difficulties as a result of strike days during their careers; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that teachers who have the required years of service and meet the minimum age requirement are being denied their minimum pension as a result of strike days and are now being asked to make up the strike days in September; if his attention has been drawn to the knock-on impact this is having on schools and on their ability to offer the position to another teacher in the school that would be lost; his views on whether this is fair; if he will detail the steps being taken to resolve this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13214/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Public servants (including teachers) make a superannuation contribution for each day of paid employment. A teacher who has reached the age of 55 and has 35 years of reckonable service may retire voluntarily on pension with no actuarial reduction. Unpaid days where no superannuation contribution is made, including in particular the public service-wide strike days of 15 October 1985 and 24 November 2009, are not counted as reckonable service for superannuation purposes. This has been the position for all teachers who were absent because of strike action on either or both of those dates and who retired subsequently, and will continue to be the position in the future.