Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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112. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason that teachers such as a person (details supplied) who retire before 66 years of age are discouraged from teacher substitution by losing the proportion of their pension being paid as jobseeker’s allowance if they substitute; if she has considered implementing a waiver mechanism to allow such teachers to obtain the full benefit of Information Note TS 0001/2022; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that many teachers have been affected; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58260/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Retired teachers are not discouraged from teacher substitution and the Deputy referred to Information Note TS 0001/2022 which reminds schools that currently retired teachers can work for up to 50 days in the calendar year without incurring any abatement of pension.

When a retired teacher returns to work in the public sector, their pension may become subject to abatement. Their pension will only be abated if their earnings on return to employment plus their pension payment exceed their retirement salary.

To alleviate teacher supply difficulties the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in January 2021 approved, for a limited period of 3 years, an annual 50 day waiver of abatement of Public Service Pensions under section 52 (4) of the Single Pension Scheme and other Provisions Act (2012), for all appropriately qualified teachers. The waiver is in place for a limited period- calendar years 2021, 2022 and 2023. A limited number of teachers’ pensions are abated annually.

As some public servants, including teachers, retire earlier than the age of eligibility for the state pension (Contributory), their occupational pension may, on application and subject to certain criteria, be augmented by other social welfare benefits and/or the payment of a supplementary pension by the occupational pension provider. As the Deputy will be aware jobseeker’s allowance is a payment made by the Department of Social Protection and the criteria regarding the payment of jobseekers allowance following a return to employment, such as substitute teaching, is a matter for the Department of Social Protection to clarify.