Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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360. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he is satisfied that An Post, the Irish Aviation Authority and Coillte are complying with their respective founding legislation that contains a guarantee that the civil servants transferred to these bodies on their vesting day are entitled to "not less favourable" conditions in their pensions than those to which they were entitled prior to being transferred; if he is satisfied that these public servants are being treated equitably in the same way as other public service pensioners paid out of monies voted by both Houses of the Oireachtas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12926/23]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, Section 46 of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act, 1983 specifies that arrangements put in place by An Post to provide pensions for former civil servants transferring from the Department of Posts and Telegraphs must ensure that the conditions of such pension schemes are “not less favourable” than the conditions that applied immediately prior to vesting day. Equivalent provisions are contained in Section 44 of the Forestry Act, 1988 and Section 41 of the Irish Aviation Authority Act, 1993 in respect of former civil servants who transferred to Coillte Teoranta and to the Irish Aviation Authority respectively.

It is important to note that former civil servants who transferred to these commercial semi state bodies are no longer public servants post vesting day and as such public service pension increases and public service pensions policy does not apply to these individual’s pensions. They are members of the occupational pension scheme of the relevant commercial semi state body and are subject to the terms and conditions of these schemes.

The provisions outlined above in the relevant Acts were transitional provisions, intended to ensure that transferring officials were no worse off than they were immediately before transfer. These provisions provide parity in relation to pension terms and conditions immediately prior to vesting day only and do not necessitate that pensioners who transferred from the civil service would receive a pension no less favourable than those who remained with the Department.

Any increases to pensions in payment under the schemes established by these bodies are carried out in accordance with the rules of those schemes; must comply with the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies 2016 and DPER Circular 16 of 2021; and are discretionary in nature. Therefore the rules of the Schemes allow, but do not require, the respective company to grant pension increases subject to obtaining Ministerial approval from the parent Minister and the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.

Details of the relevant pension increase policy rule for each of the Schemes are summarised below:

- An Post - Under paragraph 13 of the rules of the An Post Main Superannuation Scheme, An Post maintains discretion to pay pensions increases it deems appropriate, subject to Ministerial approval.

- Coillte - Under paragraph 11 of the rules of the Coillte Teoranta Main Superannuation Scheme Coillte may grant pension increases subject to Ministerial approval.

- Irish Aviation Authority - Article 10 of the Irish Aviation Staff Superannuation Scheme allows for annual pension increases to be granted subject to Ministerial approval and limited to the lesser of inflation, as measured by CPI, or 3%.