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Pension Provisions.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 January 2005

Wednesday, 26 January 2005

Questions (348, 349, 350, 351)

Tony Gregory

Question:

411 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the steps he can take to ensure that An Post pensioners are awarded their due increases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1362/05]

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Richard Bruton

Question:

427 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if An Post or the trustees of its pension trust have made application to his Department to sanction payment of a pay increase due to pensioners; when this application was made; and when it is intended to make a decision on the matter. [1979/05]

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John Cregan

Question:

429 Mr. Cregan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the position regarding An Post pensioners whose normal pension increases have not been awarded; if, notwithstanding industrial relations problems with workers, it is legally or morally defensible to withhold pensioners’ increases; if the pension fund is totally divorced from An Post current trading; if seconded civil servants in An Post are not immune from such treatment by the management of a semi-State company; and when An Post pensioners will receive their increase. [1997/05]

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John Cregan

Question:

430 Mr. Cregan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the position regarding An Post pensioners whose normal pension increases have not been awarded; if, notwithstanding industrial relations problems with workers, it is legally or morally defensible to withhold pensioners’ increases; if the pension fund is totally divorced from An Post current trading; if seconded civil servants in An Post are not immune from such treatment by the management of a semi-State company; and when An Post pensioners will receive their increase. [1998/05]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 411, 427, 429 and 430 together.

An post pensioners are paid from An Post pension fund which is founded by employer and employee contributions. The authority to implement pension increases was delegated to An Post, subject to certain conditions, as this activity was considered part of the day-to-day operations of the company. In practice, this allowed the company to implement pension increases following pay increases to employees. However, decisions outside the scope of the original delegated authority still require the consent of both the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and the Minister for Finance.

Following a proposal from the board of An Post to amend the existing pension increase terms of An Post, in this instance, my Department and the Department of Finance undertook a review of the situation. While I fully empathise with An Post pensioners for the position they find themselves in due to the failure of An Post management and unions to reach agreement on implementation of the recovery strategy, the wider overall policy issues raised by the proposal from An Post also need to be considered.

By way of background and as the Deputy may be aware, the existing terms of the An Post superannuation scheme provide for "pay parity", that is, that pensions are increased in line with the pay of serving staff. This is in accordance with public service defined benefit pension increase policy generally, "pay parity" being an integral and well established practice which is widely applied in public service defined benefit pension schemes.

Unfortunately, following examination of the issue and taking into consideration the implications of providing a precedent which could impact adversely on the cost of pensions in the wider public sector and the existing practice of pay parity, increases to pensioners of An Post, linked to increases under the Sustaining Progress agreement, are not possible at this time. While I understand the frustration of An Post pensioners with the situation, agreement in partnership with An Post unions to the restructuring plan aimed at securing the future of the company and indeed providing sustainable long-term employment for An Post workers is the way forward.

With this in mind, I have urged both the unions and the management of An Post to fully engage with the industrial relations mechanisms of the State to agree a way forward for the future of the company and all stakeholders.

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