Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 July 2015
127. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if his Department will consider the funding of a pension scheme or an ex gratia lump sum on retirement to community employment supervisors and assistant supervisors given the Labour Court recommendation, LCR 19293. [28196/15]
View answerThe Department of Social Protection currently allocates a significant level of Exchequer funding (€373.3m in 2015) to private companies in the community sector who are contracted to deliver the CE Scheme programme, this includes the subsidies which are currently provided towards the pay of CE Supervisors. However it is important to remember that the Department of Social Protection is not the employer of CE Supervisors and CE Supervisors are not public servants.
In the current public expenditure context, the State cannot sustain additional funding requirements arising out of the provision of such a pension or ex gratia scheme for non-public servants. In addition any concession in this regard would have a significant negative impact on the number of places available to participants on what is an important employment ìntegration programme.
Regard must also be had to how a precedent for CE Supervisors could impact on pay and remuneration costs for all personnel involved in similar schemes, particularly in the context of potential claims from other grades in community organisations whose pay cost are also largely State funded. The consequences of any precedent being set in this regard are potentially very large and would not be sustainable for the Exchequer .
Private companies contracted by the State to provide a service, including in the community sector, will have to manage their expenditure pressures, including labour and pension costs, from within existing funding levels.
