Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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367. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to restore the pensions of the public sector workers who retired after March 2012 and whose pensions are above €12,000 and below €32,500, pensions which were de facto reduced as a consequence of the original FEMPI legislation and not restored as part of the FEMPI Act 2015. [11770/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I refer the Deputy to my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 4045/17 on 31 January 2017.

Parliamentary Question No. 4045/17 on 31 January 2017 [Brendan Howlin]

To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to similarly advance the payment date for retired public servants, in view of the advancing of the date for the next payment of pay restoration for public servants; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Answer

Following the Labour Court Recommendations on Garda pay in November 2016, discussions between the Government and the Public Services Committee of ICTU under section 6 of the Lansdowne Road Agreement concluded with agreement to an increase of €1,000 in annualised salaries for the period 1 April 2017 to 31 August 2017 inclusive for:

- public servants on annualised basic salaries up to €65,000;

- who are parties to the Lansdowne Road Agreement; and

- who do not stand to benefit from the Labour Court Recommendations.

The increase was agreed to address the pay anomaly arising from the Labour Court Recommendations accepted by the Government in resolution of the pay dispute with the Garda Associations. The terms of that settlement have not impacted on pensions in payment and the current increase of €1,000 for the period 1 April to 31 August 2017 on annualised basic salaries up to €65,000 will not impact on pensions in payment also.

Reductions to public service pensions which took place by way of the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR) under the financial emergency legislation are being significantly reversed. This is happening in three stages under FEMPI 2015, with PSPR-affected pensioners getting pension increases via substantial restoration of the PSPR reductions on 1 January 2016, 1 January 2017 and 1 January 2018. As I have previously indicated, it will be for Government in due course to consider the issue of how to adjust the post-award value of public service pensions through appropriate pay or other linkages, as we move beyond FEMPI and PSPR restoration towards more normal pay and pension setting conditions in the public service.