Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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10. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason the 2008 Labour Court recommendation on a pension scheme for community employment supervisors was not implemented. [39452/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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In July 2008 the Labour Court recommended that an agreed pension scheme should be introduced for Community Employment (CE) scheme supervisors and assistant supervisors and that such a scheme should be adequately funded by FÁS, the agency responsible for CE at that time (LCR19293). Notwithstanding the position of this Department (which now has responsibility for CE) in rejecting that liability for these costs be met from public funds, this matter has been the subject of discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the unions representing CE supervisors.

Given the level of funding that would be required from this Department, the implementation of the claim is not considered sustainable in light of the current and on-going fiscal environment and the requirement to contain and reduce public expenditure. The costs of the introduction of any scheme are likely to be of the order of €3m per annum.

It should also be noted that this Department is not the employer of CE supervisors and such employees are not public servants. The responsibilities of the sponsoring organisations as employers and the individuals as employees must be recognised when considering pension provision arrangements.

Employers (including CE Sponsoring Organisations) are legally obliged to offer access to at least one Standard Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) under the Pension (Amendment) Act 2002. All CE sponsoring organisations were informed by the Department of their responsibilities under this Act at that time.

CE Supervisors may also qualify for the State Pension at 66 years of age. If they have accrued sufficient PRSI contributions (520 contributions @ full rate, equivalent to 10 years contributions) they will qualify for the State Pension (Contributory), which is not means-tested. In the event that there are insufficient contributions, the person will qualify for the State Pension (Non-Contributory), provided they satisfy the means test.