Dinny McGinley
Question:257 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Finance his plans to restore parity of pensions as requested by the National Association of Retired Public Employees. [11812/02]
Written Answers. - Pension Provisions.
Dinny McGinley
Question:258 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Finance the measures he has adopted to restore parity of pensions he promised to the National Association of Retired Public Employees in 1997; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11813/02]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 257 and 258 together.
The question of restoring pensions parity does not arise since it has not been removed. The position is that, in the Action Programme for the Millennium, the Government gave an undertaking to protect public service pensions. On foot of this undertaking, I announced in November 1997 the Government's decision that the benefit of the restructuring pay deals under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work would apply on the basis of parity to public servants who had retired before the commencement dates of those deals, with a guaranteed minimum increase of 3%.
I also said that policy in relation to any future restructuring deals would be determined in the light of the recommendations contained in the final report of the Commission on Public Service Pensions. That commission had been established by the previous Government to examine and report on the occupational pension arrangements of public servants. In the meantime, in the period since November 1997, the benefit of all relevant pay increases under Partnership 2000 and the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness has been passed on to pensioners.
The final report of the Commission on Public Service Pensions was published in January 2001. On 28 September 2001 the Government announced that it had decided to accept the thrust of the package of reforms recommended by the commission and to establish the working group to advise on implementation provided for in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. The operational details of the implementation of the commission recommendations will be agreed by the Government following receipt of a report from the implementation working group.
The working group was established on 10 January 2002 and its main sub-group has met on a regular basis since then. It is hoped that the working group will be in a position to report within the next few months. Parallel structures, subject to the same timeframe and remit, have been established in the case of the Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces.
The commission recommends,inter alia, continuation of pension increases in line with public service earnings and also recommends that serving public servants make an additional explicit contribution towards the cost involved. In a change from the existing form of pay parity, the commission proposes that a single index of public service earnings be used in the future with pension increases based on changes in the index to be paid automatically on a twice-yearly basis.
It should be noted that the public service union representatives on the commission welcomed in general terms the "recommendations for the establishment of a public service pensions index and the recommendation, through the use of this mechanism, for the maintenance of the system of pension increases by reference to the pay increases of serving staff".
Public service pensioners clearly have a very significant interest in these recommendations. For this reason, the Government has decided to facilitate pensioner group representation in the working group process in relation to the commission's recommendations on pensions increase policy. As a first step, a number of pensioner groups, including the National Association of Retired Public Employees, attended a preliminary meeting with my Department on 11 December 2001. The information and consultation process, the arrangements for which are being finalised, will include the issue of an information leaflet to pensioners, the holding of information seminars in venues around the country, and the convening of a pensioner representative forum for the purpose of electing pensioner nominees to participate in a pension index sub-committee of the PPF implementation working group referred to earlier.
The above clearly sets out the Government's commitment in relation to public service pensions and the actions which the Government has taken to deliver on that commitment. As I have shown, pensioners and their representatives groups will have an opportunity in the months ahead to have the commission recommendations explained and examined in more detail and to participate in the consultation process which I have initiated in relation to future pensions increase policy.