asked the Minister for Local Government if he will state whether a very high percentage of the servants of local authorities have failed to qualify for pensions under the Superannuation Act, 1948; the number of appeals received by his Department against the decisions of county managers, and the number of such appeals rejected; and whether it is proposed to introduce proposals for amending legislation in order to provide contributory pensions for deserving servants of local authorities who are not covered by the Act of 1948.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Local Authority Employees' Pensions.
Complete returns in respect of the operation of Part III of the Local Government (Superannuation) Act, 1948, are not available in my Department, but information furnished by local authorities which have adopted Part III of the Act shows that of 4,380 servants who applied to have their names entered in the Register of Established Servants, 2,234 (or 51 per cent.) have had their applications refused. The majority of those whose applications were refused may make fresh application at a later stage.
Sixty-three appeals have been received against the refusal of local authorities to enter the names of servants in the Register of Established Servants and of these appeals, 23 were upheld, eight were rejected and 32 are under consideration.
Amending legislative proposals are under consideration with reference to the experience gained from the operation of the present measure and the probable effects of the implementation of pending social welfare legislation.