Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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260. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the way in which the 1984 Civil Service spouses and children's superannuation scheme conforms with the provision of the Payment of Wages Act 1991 on the necessity for written consent from employees for the deduction to be made from their wages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16976/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Under Section 5(1) of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991, "an employer shall not make a deduction from the wages of an employee (or receive any payment from an employee) unless -

(a) the deduction (or payment) is required or authorised to be made by virtue of any statute or any instrument made under statute.

(b) the deduction (or payment) is required or authorised to be made by virtue of a term of the employee's contract of employment included in the contract before, and in force at the time of, the deduction or payment, or

(c) in the case of a deduction, the employee has given prior consent in writing to it."

As long as any one of these conditions is met the employer is not prevented from making a deduction from the wages of an employee.

When the Civil Service Spouses' and Children's Contributory Pension Scheme was first introduced for established civil servants (as the Widows' and Orphans' Contributory Pension Scheme) in 1968-1971, membership of the scheme was made optional for serving male civil servants and compulsory, and thus a condition of employment, for all male civil servants joining after that date. Periodic and non-periodic employee contributions made by deduction from salary (or from any gratuities payable) formed an integral part of the scheme, as was evident from the title of the scheme. The scheme was subsequently extended to all female established civil servants in 1981, when a similar approach on its introduction for male civil servants was followed. The scheme was further amended in 1984, with certain changes made to the benefit and contribution terms, in the Revised Spouses' and Children's Contributory Pension Scheme. Again, serving established civil servants were given the option to join the scheme while membership was made compulsory - and thus a condition of employment - for all civil servants joining after the effective date of change.

Accordingly, it is clear that employee contributions made under the Civil Service Spouses' and Children's Contributory Pension Scheme meet the requirements laid down under the Payment of Wages Act 1991, and specifically, Sections 5 (1) (b) and (c) of the Act.