Peadar Tóibín
Question:347. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the pension/lump sum entitlements of former Secretaries General of her Department. [10180/24]
View answerTuesday, 5 March 2024
Questions (347)
Written answers
My Department in its current configuration was established in September 2020. I wish to inform the Deputy that one Secretary General has retired from this Department since that date.
Secretaries General, like other civil servants, receive pension benefits calculated in accordance with the terms of the pension scheme of which they are a member.
The pension entitlements of persons recruited to civil service positions depend on a range of factors, including their individual career history, pay point, date of entry and age of retirement. The value attaching to these terms also will vary from case to case depending on the specific circumstances applying at each retirement.
For example, the pension entitlements of an individual who joined the civil service for the first time after 2013 would be based on membership of the Single Public Service Pension Scheme i.e. pension and lump sum benefits are based on career average earnings and are payable from State Pension Age. In the case of those who are members of a pre-existing (pre-2013) civil service pension scheme, pension benefits are based on total reckonable service and final pensionable remuneration.
The Top Level Appointments Committee (TLAC) Retirement Terms that apply to new appointments to Secretary General posts since October 2011 are as follows:
(i) Newly appointed Secretaries General may at the end of their term of office be offered an alternative appointment in the Civil or Public Service on the same salary, if they were recruited from the Civil or Public Service, on condition that they do not have 40 years’ service and that they have not reached the applicable minimum pension age. Those recruited from outside the Civil or Public Service will not be made such an offer, but will be covered by paragraph (ii) below.
(ii) If the person is not offered a post as in paragraph (i) above, and has not reached preserved pension age, he/she may be offered severance of 1 year’s salary (or salary to preserved pension age if less), with pension payable on reaching preserved pension age. For those who have reached the applicable minimum pension age, superannuation benefits are payable immediately, with no additional benefits and no severance payment.
(iii) Where an alternative appointment is offered, as in paragraph (i) above, but is not accepted, no severance is payable, and pension is payable at the applicable minimum pension age, with no additional pension benefits. Similar arrangements apply where a Secretary General is given an alternative appointment and later retires.
(iv) Pension benefits of Secretaries General who are members of the new Single Pension Scheme will be based on career-average rather than final salary, and no enhancements.
Information on the pension entitlements of any individual is of a personal nature. Due to General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) around personal data, details of an individual’s pension entitlements cannot be provided.
Further information of public service pension schemes is available at: www.publicservicepensions.gov.ie/en/