Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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27. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to put a mechanism in place to implement the Labour Court recommendation of 2008 in regard to an agreed pension scheme proviso for community employment supervisors and assistant supervisors; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42006/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department’s position remains as outlined in the previous answers to the Deputy’s question on this topic. I refer you to Questions 98 and 99 of 21 October 2014.

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. The Department of Social Protection is now responsible for CE.

Notwithstanding the position of this Department in rejecting that liability for these costs should 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. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has stated to the unions that companies contracted by the State to provide a service, including in the community sector, will have to manage their expenditure pressures, including labour and pension costs, from within existing funding levels.

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 public expenditure. The costs of the introduction of any scheme are likely to be of the order of €3m per annum, with retrospective costs of the order of at least €39m. In this context, it should be noted that the Supervisors and Sponsors have made no contribution towards the cost of the pension arrangements they are currently seeking from the Department.

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