Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 24 Nov 1998

Vol. 497 No. 2

Written Answers - Pension Provisions.

Pat Rabbitte

Question:

409 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason arrears have not been paid to all the retired teachers in relation to back money due to them following an agreement on parity with serving teachers concluded in November 1997; when all retired teachers will be paid the moneys due; the steps, if any, he will take to end this delay in paying retired teachers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24760/98]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. Martin)

The position is that arrears of pension are due to some retired teachers in accordance with the terms of the PCW agreement. The PCW agreement is a complex one and in order to cope with implementation of its provisions, including paying pension arrears, my Department has taken on additional staff, both permanent and temporary.

The pace of the work of payment has been affected by the fact that normal retirements, which reached a record level in 1997, have continued to occur at the same high level — almost 50 per cent higher than in 1996. The work has also been delayed by the amount of queries which are received on a daily basis regarding the benefits of the PCW agreement and regarding superannuation generally. The rate of queries received is such that staff are dedicated to answering phone queries between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. in the case of secondary teachers, and between 2.30 p.m. and 4.30 p.m. in the case of primary teachers.

The agreement of November 1997, to which the Deputy refers, relates to a Government decision in November 1997 that public service pensioners who retired before the commencement dates of restructuring pay deals under the PCW agreement should benefit from those pay deals on a parity basis, subject to a minimum adjustment of 3 per cent in their pensions or 2 per cent in the case of those pensioners who already received an advance payment of 1 per cent in 1996.

In accordance with the Government decision, an increase of 2 per cent in their pensions has already been paid to teachers who retired before 1 July 1994 — the earliest commencement date in the case of teachers of the PCW restructuring pay deals. The retired teachers in question are due the balance, if any, which arises as a result of the implementation of the PCW agreement.

With regard to the outstanding arrears, the position is that a dedicated group of staff are working full-time with a view to making payments to as many retired teachers as possible before the end of the year. Where it is not possible to complete the work of calculating the amounts due by the end of the year, my Department will make payments on account to the retired teachers involved.