asked the Minister for Transport and Power if he will state in relation to the proposed Bord na Móna superannuation amending scheme (a) if there is any element of State subsidy in the scheme and, if so, the amount of subsidy; (b) the new elements in the scheme as submitted for sanction which do not appear in superannuation schemes already given Ministerial sanction; and (c) the provisions of the scheme which, in particular, needed detailed examination in his Department; and, if there is no State subsidy involved, if he will indicate the reasons for the considerable delay involved in approving the amending scheme.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Bord na Móna Pension Scheme.
37.
Under the provisions of section 6 of the Turf Development Act, 1953 the Bord na Móna superannuation schemes must be financed by equal contributions from the board and the members. There is, therefore, no element of State subsidy in any part of the Bord na Móna superannuation schemes.
The provisions of the amending superannuation scheme to which the Deputy refers, relating to the calculation of contributions and pension on a percentage of basic wages plus service pay plus 16 per cent of basic wages are unusual. The reason for these provisions is that Bord na Móna workers, in the turf cutting and harvesting season, earn considerably more than their basic wages and it has long been agreed that part of such earnings should be pensionable, hence the inclusion of the additional 16 per cent of basic wages as part of a worker's overall pensionable earnings.
The purpose of each provision in the amending superannuation scheme, indeed in any superannuation scheme, is examined in detail before approval is given.
As I informed the Deputy in reply to a question on 26th October, while approval of the amending scheme could not be conveyed to the board until 25th October, the operative date is 31st August, 1972.