The question refers to changes made to the basis for calculating Garda pensions in 1982 and 1994, which came into effect from the date the change was made but which did not have retrospective effect to include pensioners.
The first, the pensionability of certain Garda allowances in 1982, arose out of a finding by the arbitrator that a number of Garda allowances, which had previously been non-pensionable, became reckonable for pension purposes with effect from 1 October 1982. This was accepted by the then Minister for the Public Service and by the then Minister for Justice. Garda pensioners who retired before that date were not covered by the arbitrator's finding, and the finding was not extended to them because of the considerable additional costs involved. Any concession in this case would, of course, have costly repercussions elsewhere in the public service.
The second change made to the basis for calculating Garda pensions, the decision in 1994 to make unsocial hours allowances pensionable, was done as part of an agreement reached under the local bargaining clause of the Programme for Economic and Social Progress, and was in return for agreement by Garda associations to contribute to flexibility and change within the force. The agreement was subject to an overall limit on cost of 3 per cent of basic pay. The agreement, and the cost parameters within which it was negotiated, did not provide for backdating of any of the improvements in conditions it contained, nor for their extension to pensioners.
The Deputy may wish to note that the Commission on Public Service Pensions, announced recently by the Minister for Finance, is to examine and report on the pension terms of all public servants, including the Garda Síochána.
