Written answers

Wednesday, 30 September 2020

Department of Education and Skills

Pension Provisions

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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172. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if progress has been possible on the request by community employment supervisors for an occupational pension scheme. [27622/20]

Photo of Joe O'BrienJoe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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As the Deputy will be aware, Community Employment (CE) supervisors and assistant supervisors have been seeking for several years, through their union representatives, the allocation of Exchequer funding to implement a 2008 Labour Court recommendation relating to the provision of a pension scheme for CE supervisors who are employed by CE schemes.

CE sponsoring authorities are the legal employers of their CE supervisors, CE assistant supervisors and CE participants; the Department’s role continues to be that of CE funder.

This issue was examined by a Community Sector High Level Forum, chaired by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.  A number of Departments, including my own Department, were represented on this group, as were the unions and Pobal.

As part of this process a  detailed scoping exercise was carried out with input from the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) on the potential costs of providing Exchequer support for the establishment of such a pension scheme for employees across the Community and Voluntary sector in Ireland.  This exercise estimated a potential cost to the State of between €188 million and €347 million per annum depending on the numbers involved.  This excluded any provision for an immediate ex-gratia lump sum payment of pension as sought, which could entail a further Exchequer cost of up to €318 million.

In its findings, the High-level Group stated that while CE supervisors and assistant supervisors represented only a very small part of the wider community and voluntary sector, any explicit provision of State funding for such a scheme in respect of CE Supervisors could potentially  give rise to claims for funding for employees of similar schemes in the broader sector.  The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform stated that it had to have regard to the full potential Exchequer exposure associated with setting such a precedent.

At this point, I wish to acknowledge the valuable and dedicated service that CE supervisors provide in running CE schemes delivering local based community services while  providing a valuable training and development opportunity to the long-term unemployed and to those often furthest removed from the labour market.

The current position is that officials from my Department, DPER and the Unions are in ongoing discussions on the matter and I would therefore ask the Deputies to allow these talks to continue free from speculation that may not assist the process at the present time.

As the Deputies are aware, the funding of any potential pension provision for CE supervisors will be a matter for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and will need to be considered in the wider economic and budgetary context in which any such scheme will need to operate.

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