Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 June 2014
100. Deputy Heather Humphreys asked the Minister for Social Protection her plans to provide a pension for long serving community employment members in a supervisory position who are due to retire shortly; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26559/14]
View answerThe Labour Court recommended in July 2008 (LCR19293) that an agreed pension scheme should be introduced for Community Employment (CE) scheme supervisors and assistant supervisors and that such a scheme should be adequately funded by FÁS, the agency responsible for CE at that time. Notwithstanding the position of this Department (which now has responsibility for CE) in rejecting that liability for these costs be met from public funds, this matter has been the subject of discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the unions representing CE supervisors.
Given the level of funding that would be required from this Department, the implementation of the claim is not considered sustainable in light of the current and on-going fiscal environment and the requirement to contain and reduce public expenditure. The costs of the introduction of any scheme are likely to be of the order of €3m per annum, with retrospective costs of the order of at least €30m.
It should also be noted that this Department is not the employer of CE supervisors and such employees are not public servants. The responsibilities of the sponsoring organisations and the individuals concerned must also be recognised when considering pension provision arrangements.
