Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Staff in Ministerial Offices are generally employed as unestablished civil servants.  No voluntary early retirement scheme is currently sanctioned for civil servants.  

With regard to severance arrangements, following the 2011 General Election my Department agreed that Personal Secretaries and Personal Assistants who had previous service under the Scheme for Secretarial Assistance could opt, as an alternative to the Ministerial Staff Severance of 4 weeks' pay per year (or part thereof), for the package paid out to the Staff of the Scheme for Secretarial Assistance.  Any such payment would be dependent on the individual circumstance of the employee.  The rate of pay under this calculation will be the rate the person would have reached had s/he remained in their previous grade of Secretarial Assistant/Parliamentary Assistant as appropriate and is inclusive of retirement lump sum but does not provide for early payment of pension.  This payment will be made by the relevant Government Department but the HR Unit for the Houses of the Oireachtas is responsible for providing necessary service and salary details to Departments.  Matters regarding termination dates, notice etc. will be notified to staff of officeholders by the relevant Government Department.