Vol. 542 No. 1
68 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Defence if his attention has been drawn to the claim of many former employees of the Air Corps that their years of service should be fully transferable to Aer Lingus for the purpose of pension rights; and if he has proposals to allow their case be adjudicated by the Equality Authority, the Pensions Board or the rights commissioner service of the Labour Court. [23551/01]
Both Aer Lingus and the Defence Forces are members of the public sector transfer scheme which provides for the reckoning by each participating organisation of earlier pensionable service with any other member of the transfer scheme. Participation in the transfer scheme is voluntary and Aer Lingus decided to become a member of the scheme with effect from 1 June 1973. As a result, the company is obliged to reckon all prior pensionable service in the case of its employees who left other member organisations, including the Defence Forces, on or after that date and subsequently joined Aer Lingus. As a member of the scheme, Aer Lingus could also, on a purely voluntary basis, agree to reckon prior service in the case of its employees who left other member organisations prior to 1 June 1973. In the event, Aer Lingus exercised this voluntary option only in respect of employees who left other member organisations on or after 9 September 1968. This was the date on which Aer Lingus was approved as a member of the Superannuation and Pensions Act, 1963. This Act was the forerunner of the current transfer scheme. The resolution of the issue in question does not come within the remit of my Department.
