asked the Minister for Finance if he will state what is the existing practice in relation to the counting of unestablished service for the various grades in the Civil Service for superannuation purposes, and if he is aware that officers with long continuous periods of service are being refused pensions.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Civil Service Superannuation.
In regard to the first part of the question, I am assuming that the Deputy is referring to officers who have served throughout the entire period of their employment by the State in an unestablished capacity. There is no power under the Superannuation Acts to grant pensions to such persons. Their service can be reckoned only towards the grant of a gratuity under Section 4 of the Superannuation Act, 1887, to the provisions of which I would refer the Deputy. If pensions have been refused in the cases which the Deputy appears to have in mind, it is obviously because they retired from unestablished posts and lacked the essential element of established service.