Written Answers Nos. 200-09
200. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 324 of 3 November 2015, where he refers to a representative body making a claim on behalf of individual sectors or groups of employees, how a body achieves this status; and the criteria the body must meet. [39617/15]
View answerI am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that there are no specific criteria which are applied to a representative body in submitting a claim for a flat rate expense allowance. The key requirement is that a body must be representative of a particular sector or group of employees. The regime whereby representative bodies may submit a claim in respect of a large number of employees has been developed over many years by the Revenue Commissioners in order to reduce the administrative burden on employees, employers and Revenue. I would emphasise that for an expense to qualify as a deduction against income from an office or employment, the expense must be wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the performance of the duties of the office or employment. Where a flat rate allowance is agreed, it may then be applied to all employees of the class or group in question.
201. Deputy Joan Collins asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he is aware that in a museum beside Leinster House, a contractor (details supplied) engaged by the main contractor only engages construction workers on a self-employed basis; and the reason the Government is allowing companies like this to openly exploit workers with no qualifications in the industry. [39515/15]
View answerProcurement by The Office of Public Works of Capital Works Contractors complies with the procedures and requirements of the Department of Finance Capital Works Management Framework (CWMF) which is the system within which all public sector bodies must operate.
Following the award of a contract, the Office of Public Works ensures that all the Conditions of Contract are observed. The provisions of Clause 5.3 of the standard contract documentation have particular reference to the matter raised. This Office has been assured by the Main Contractor that there is the necessary observance of these provisions. The payment of any invoices presented is contingent on the Contractors' ongoing compliance with these requirements.
202. Deputy Paul J. Connaughton asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if new severance packages for supervisors of community employment schemes have been agreed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39113/15]
View answerThe position is that the Department of Social Protection currently allocates a significant level of Exchequer funding 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 the Department of Social Protection is not the employer of CE Supervisors and CE Supervisors are not public servants.
Unions representing CE Supervisors have sought the provision of funding to implement a range of Labour Court recommendations for enhanced severance arrangements in respect of employees in the Community Sector. However it was not possible for the State to provide funding for enhanced severance arrangements to employees of private companies in these cases even if those companies are or were reliant on State funding.
Notwithstanding this the matter has remained under review and I recently held a constructive meeting with SIPTU and IMPACT trade unions in relation to the position of CE Supervisors. Having listened to their respective positions I have reconvened the Community Sector Informal Forum which ceased operation some years ago in order that this matter is fully examined.
I anticipate that the Forum will commence work in the coming weeks and I expect that it will produce a final report for consideration over the next number of months.
203. Deputy Bobby Aylward asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will consider granting an allocation of funding, through the Office of Public Works, from the sale of Inistioge Garda Síochána station in County Kilkenny to a community centre (details supplied) in the county, in line with the previous commitment given by this Government to ensure that such community projects benefit from the sale of public premises; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39118/15]
View answerThe former Garda Station at Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny was sold at a public auction on the 28th July 2015 for the sum of €132,000. The proceeds of this sale, similar to receipts from the disposal of other surplus State properties, are treated in the Vote of the Office of Public Works as Appropriations-in-Aid and are paid directly into the Exchequer. It is neither possible nor appropriate for the Commissioners of Public Works to consider granting monies from the proceeds of the sale of the former Garda Station at Inistioge to individual community projects. Funding opportunities for such projects lies within other Government Votes etc.
204. Deputy Eric Byrne asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on the concerns of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 20, and the changes in the financial emergency measures in the public interest legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39131/15]
View answerI note the concerns raised in relation to the continued application of the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR) to pensions in payment to retired public servants. These concerns have also been articulated by the Alliance of Retired Public Servants and both I and my officials have met with representatives of the Alliance on a regular basis. In response to concerns raised in 2013, I undertook to ease the burden of the PSPR as early as economic and fiscal circumstances allowed me to do so, with a focus on benefitting impacted lower-income pensions proportionately more. The PSPR amelioration proposals outlined in the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest 2015 Bill deliver on this commitment to address the continuing burden of PSPR on public service pensioners.
Under measures announced in mid-2015, and as contained in the Financial Emergency in the Public Interest Bill 2015, the Government is now proposing, to commence on 1 January 2016, a phased and partial restoration of the public service pay and pension cuts imposed under the financial emergency legislation. In specific terms, the Bill's PSPR provisions will deliver part-restoration of the PSPR cuts in three stages effective from 1 January 2016, 1 January 2017 and 1 January 2018. When fully rolled-out from 1 January 2018, this means that all public service pensions in payment with pre-PSPR values of up to €34,132 will be fully exempt from PSPR, while those pensioners not fully removed from the reach of PSPR will, in general, benefit by €1,680 per year. This represents a major amelioration of the PSPR burden over a multi-year time horizon, at the end of which the great majority of public service pensioners, with the exception of those on the higher levels of pension income, will no longer be affected by PSPR.
The eventual full-year estimated cost of these proposals with respect to public service pensions is about €90 million, which represents a restoration of approximately two-third's of the impact on pensions of PSPR. This significant level of restoration compares very favourably, in proportionate terms, with the proposed salary and PRD restoration to serving public servants.
205. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on correspondence regarding supporting teachers in the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015 (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39156/15]
View answerThe Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) legislation was introduced in five separate Acts from 2009 in response to the crisis in the public finances. In my most recent annual review of the legislation, I indicated in my report that I would bring forward the necessary legislative amendments to the Financial Emergency Measures Acts to enable the terms of the Lansdowne Road Agreement which would extend the terms of the Haddington Road Agreement to September 2018 to be implemented from 1 January 2016. As the terms of the Lansdowne Road Agreement have now been accepted by the Public Services Committee of ICTU and by Government, the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) Bill 2015, which is currently before the Oireachtas, contains these provisions. The Agreement is significantly weighted in favour of the lower paid and applies to all public servants including teachers. It makes provision for increases in gross pay in 2016 for those on pay up to €31,000 and in 2017 for lower and middle income public servants, namely those on pay up to €65,000. For any public servant whose annualised salary is below €24,001 there will be an increase in gross pay of 2.5% from 1 January 2016. For those on annualised salaries between €24,001 and €31,000 there will be an increase in gross pay of 1% from 1 January 2016. For all those on annualised salaries up to €65,000 there will be an increase in gross pay of €1,000 from 1 September 2017. Additionally, all public servants will benefit from the Pension Related Deduction (PRD) measures contained in the Lansdowne Road Agreement which will benefit all affected public servants by up to €733 in 2016 and €1,000 in 2017.
When in 2013 Unions and Associations representing public servants, including teachers, signed up to the Haddington Road Agreement they agreed to the introduction of significant productivity measures and also additional pay cuts for public servants earning over €65,000. There was a commitment given in that Agreement, for the restoration of the 2013 pay cuts in two equal phases in April 2017 and January 2018 (for those on annualised remuneration in excess of €110,000 restoration will be in three equal phases). The FEMPI Bill 2015 also includes the necessary legislative provisions to give effect to these commitments. Additionally, the Bill enables effect to be given to the commitment under the terms of the Haddington Road Agreement for the restoration of certain specific reductions to terms and conditions affected by the terms of the Haddington Road Agreement, which in particular will benefit teachers who are encompassed by the terms of the Lansdowne Road Agreement.
Accordingly, I do not consider that the provisions of the FEMPI Bill are disadvantageous to teachers over any other group of public servants.
206. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of persons who have paid the public service pension reduction in each year since its introduction; the projected number who will pay it in 2016 and 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39189/15]
View answerPublic service pensions which are affected by the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR) are simply reduced in pay-out value, and as such there is no imposition of a levy, deduction or other stoppage for which a centralised collection system is required. However based on available data sets and making reasonable projections as to future retirements and mortality rates, and factoring in also the PSPR changes proposed in the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2015, the numbers of pensioners impacted by PSPR over the period 2011 to 2018 are estimated as follows:
|
2011 |
84,000 |
|
2012 |
90,000 |
|
2013 |
88,000 |
|
2014 |
88,000 |
|
2015 |
87,000 |
|
2016 |
70,000 |
|
2017 |
48,000 |
|
2018 |
25,000 |
207. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the analysis his Department has undertaken of the impact of the creation of a two-tier public service pay structure; his plans to review this situation so that all persons at the same salary scale point earn the same amount when they reach that point, regardless of when they entered the public service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39293/15]
View answerI refer to my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 36415/15 of 20 October 2015.
208. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if premises used solely and exclusively for the purposes of delivering services for the Department of Social Protection are liable for rates, including Intreo, branch, local, inspector, community welfare, employment services and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39310/15]
View answerThe Valuation Acts 2001-2015 provide in Schedule 4, paragraph 12A that property, being a building or part of a building, land or a waterway or a harbour directly occupied by any Department or Office of State is property that is not rateable.
The Commissioner of Valuation, who is independent in the exercise of his duties under the Acts, has accordingly deemed that offices, occupied directly by the Department of Social Protection, are exempt from rates.
209. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the cost of meeting additional demographic pressures on services and entitlements by his Department in the period 2017 to 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39452/15]
View answerMinisterial expenditure ceilings are decided by the Government within the context of the overall Government expenditure ceiling required to ensure that our fiscal targets are achieved, and have a statutory basis in the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2013.
The Expenditure Report 2016 published by my Department on Budget day outlines Ministerial Ceilings for Current Expenditure in the years 2016, 2017 and 2018.
The multi-annual voted expenditure ceilings allow for greater transparency in the allocation of resources across Government Departments over a three year horizon and facilitate the work of the Oireachtas in engaging with Ministers and their Departments their spending priorities.
The ceilings for these years take into account demographic pressures arising in the Departments of Health, Social Protection and Education and Skills. Also, taken into consideration in these ceilings is the roll-out of the Rural Development Programme, the carry-over impact of certain Budget 2016 measures and a forecast reduction in the number of people on the Live Register.
In 2017 an additional €720m has been allocated for these purposes with an additional €616m allocated for 2018. These amounts are included in Table A9 on page C51 of the Budget 2016 book. This table also provides increases to Voted expenditure reflecting estimated demographic pressures in the period 2019 to 2021.
