P. J. Sheehan
Question:170 Mr. Sheehan asked the Minister for Education the categories of public servants for whom the years spent in training are allowable for superannuation purposes; and the number of years allowed in each case. [20794/96]
Written Answers - Public Service Superannuation.
The information requested by the Deputy is as follows:
Officers recruited from open competitions to fill certain established professional, technical or specialist posts in my Department may have their time spent in acquiring the qualifications and/or experience prescribed for appointment reckoned, along with actual service, for superannuation purposes where the recruitment conditions preclude them from taking up appointment before age 25. The maximum number of years allowable is ten years.
For the vast majority of primary teachers, years spent in training colleges are not reckonable for superannuation purposes. However, a small number of junior assistant mistresses and some members of religious orders who were employed prior to commencing training and who employed substitute teachers for the duration of their absences while training, can have time spent in training colleges reckoned for superannuation purposes. The maximum number of years allowable in both categories is two years.
Pensionable staff in the regional technical colleges and the Dublin Institute of Technology come under the terms of the local government superannuation scheme for which the Department of the Environment has overall responsibility. The Department of the Environment has confirmed that certain teachers of trade subjects may be allowed extra years for superannuation purposes if the recruitment conditions preclude them from taking up a post before the age of 25.
In the case of professional staff in the colleges of education for primary and home economics teachers, time spent acquiring the necessary minimum qualifications for a post may give rise to an award of professional added years for superannuation purposes, subject to a maximum of ten years and to various conditions and restrictions.
Additional years of pensionable service are allowable mainly for academic staff in third level institutions in the university sector. In general, added years are allowable for years spent acquiring qualifications and experience and are not confined solely to years spent training.
The maximum number of years allowable in some institutions is ten, in others it is one third of full time service with the institution. In all institutions the added years plus actual years of service may not exceed 40 years.