Written Answers Nos. 65-71
65. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when increases in public service pensions will be linked to the consumer price index; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3428/16]
View answerThe Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012 enabled the commencement on 1 January 2013 of the Single Public Service Pension Scheme for new entrants to public service employment. The Single Scheme rules stipulate that both in-career pension credits and awarded pensions should be increased in line with increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Section 47 of the 2012 Act provides for the possible extension of this CPI linkage to pensions paid by other pre-existing public service pension schemes subject to ratification of an order by both Houses of the Oireachtas. However, no order to this effect has been made to date.
Instead, and reflecting the realities of the fiscal crisis and the emerging recovery, I have acted to commence, with effect from 2016, the reversal of the unprecedented cuts to public service pension rates which have applied since 2011 by way of the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR) under the financial emergency legislation.
This part-reversal of pension cuts is provided for in the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2015 (FEMPI), which is delivering effective pension increases through changes to the applicable PSPR tables from 1 January 2016, 1 January 2017 and 1 January 2018. When fully rolled-out from 1 January 2018, these changes mean that all public service pensions 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. The cost of these changes is estimated at about €90 million on a full-year basis from 2018.
Looking beyond PSPR restoration, it will be necessary in due course to consider the question of how to adjust the post-award value of public service pensions in the medium term. I expect the Government to return to this issue at the appropriate time, as we move beyond the FEMPI era towards a more normal environment for pay and pension setting, all the while continuing to ensure the affordability of the cost of the public service over the long term.
66. Deputy Jack Wall asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on a submission (details supplied); if he will reply to the requests in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3290/16]
View answerAs a Government Department, the scope for retention beyond normal retiring age for staff of my Department is regulated by Department of Finance Circular 13/1975 which permits retention on certain limited grounds. These typically relate to grounds of hardship or public interest. In my Department, there have been no instances in recent years of cases being referred to third parties regarding retirement on age grounds. Five applications from individuals for retention on the grounds provided for in the above circular have been received in recent years and were referred for decision to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, as required.
67. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to deal with a matter (details supplied) regarding former workers of Clerys department store; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3302/16]
View answerThe liquidation of OCS Operations Limited is currently in the hands of liquidators under the supervision of the High Court. The liquidators of OCS Operations Limited have confirmed that they have submitted a report to the ODCE in accordance with their statutory duties. The Director of Corporate Enforcement is independent in the exercise of his statutory functions.
On 14 January 2016, the Minister of State for Business and Employment, Deputy Ged Nash, and I announced a twin track examination of protections in law for employees and unsecured creditors, particularly to ensure limited liability or restructuring are not used to avoid a company’s obligations to its employees and unsecured creditors. We have appointed two experts to examine the legal protections for workers, particularly where operations and assets may be moved to separate legal entities as part of a restructuring. This examination will specifically look at situations where valuable assets in a company are separated from the operating entity, and how the position of employees can be better protected in such situations. The experts have been asked to report by 11 March 2016.
As part of the twin track process, I have also requested the Company Law Review Group to examine legislation with a view to recommending ways company law could be amended to better safeguard employees and creditors.
68. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the status of zero-hour workers, including if workers can be held in this status for ten years; if State agencies employ such workers; if these workers should get permanent part-time status after ten years with pay scales, guaranteed hours, sick pay schemes, and so on; if they should have received cuts as part of public service cuts and how this would be justified with such workers’ current status; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3390/16]
View answerThe Statement of Government Priorities, July 2014 committed to conduct a study on the prevalence of zero hour contracts among Irish employers and their impact on employees and make policy recommendations to Government on foot of this. The University of Limerick was appointed in February 2015, following a competitive tendering process, to carry out a study into the prevalence of zero hour contracts and low hour contracts in the Irish economy and their impact on employees.
The study had a broad scope, covering both the public and private sectors, with a particular focus on the retail, hospitality, education and health sectors. The study, published in November, 2015, found that zero hour contracts as defined within current Irish employment rights legislation are not extensively used in Ireland. It found low working hours can arise in different forms in employment contracts, such as regular part-time contracts with fixed hours or a contract with “If and when” hours only or a hybrid of the two. If and when contracts are contracts where workers are not contractually required to make themselves available for work.
The UL report made a range of recommendations relating to contracts, hours of work and notice, minimum hours, how contracted hours should be determined, collective agreements, data gathering and wider contextual issues.
It is important to point out that the UL study was an independent study and the conclusions drawn and the recommendations made in it are those of UL. Therefore, it was essential that the various stakeholders who contributed to the study and indeed other interested parties who may not have had an opportunity to engage with UL, were given an opportunity to consider and respond to the report.
To this end, my Department sought submissions from interested parties by way of a Public Consultation. A large number of submissions were received by 4 January 2016, the closing date for receipt of such submissions. The responses contain a variety of views both for and against the findings and recommendations as made by UL, which will require careful consideration by my Department over the coming period. This will inform the policy response to be considered by Government arising from the study.
Finally, I am informed by my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, that reductions in the remuneration payable to public servants, including those employed in State agencies, were effected under the terms of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts.
69. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if his officials, staff or advisers are informed on a regular basis of pending job announcements by the Industrial Development Agency Ireland and Enterprise Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3453/16]
View answer70. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he has protocols in place with Industrial Development Agency Ireland and Enterprise Ireland concerning pending job announcements, if these announcements have to get clearance from his office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3454/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 69 and 70 together.
While there are no formal protocols in place with the agencies, my office is informed on a regular basis of pending job announcements related to agency client companies. All press releases that contain Ministerial quotes require clearance from my office.
71. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on reports from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and others that outline how job creation is not linked directly to Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3455/16]
View answerAs the OECD has acknowledged, job creation “can be stimulated through a stable macro-economic framework” and also “structural policies which encourage innovation, skills and business development” (OECD, 2014). While this Government has always acknowledged that it is businesses, not Government, that create jobs, we understand that every Government Department has a role in improving the environment for job creation and this whole of Government effort has been integrated into the Action Plan for Jobs process to achieve our goal to replace all of the jobs lost during the economic crisis and deliver sustainable full employment by the end of 2020.
The OECD itself carried out a review of the Action Plan for Jobs process in 2014 and concluded that the Action Plan for Jobs was a “most welcome and important initiative when launched in February 2012”, remarking that its “focus on private sector-led, export oriented job creation by getting framework conditions right and continually upgrading the business environment is a sound approach”.
It also stated that the Action Plan for Jobs process marked “an important innovation in Irish governance” and that “The APJ'’s most striking innovation in the Irish public policy context is a coordination mechanism that ensures high level political buy-in and oversight, whole-of-government engagement and the establishment of quarterly targets underpinned by a robust monitoring system. These are important steps towards addressing long-standing gaps that undermine successful policy implementation”.
This Government’s commitment to stabilising the macro-economic framework and introducing policies which encourage innovation, skills and business development, as embodied in the Action Plan for Jobs process, is working. Since the first Action Plan for Jobs was launched in Q1 2012, 135,800 more people are at work. In the first three quarters of 2015, 43,400 new jobs were created – the target for the year was 40,000. The unemployment rate has fallen below nine per cent for the first time since 2008, down from a high of 15.1 per cent in early 2012 to 8.8 per cent in December 2015.
Action Plan for Jobs 2016, the fifth Plan, was launched last week and marks the transition from the first phase of an economy recovering from the most severe recession when we set a target to get 100,000 people back to a new phase when we have doubled the jobs, target to 200,000 and the ambition to create a competitive, innovative, highly productive economy providing sustainable full employment for its people. It also marks the transition to the implementation of key Government policies that plan for medium term growth. Enterprise 2025 is our ten year jobs and enterprise strategy, which sets out the roadmap to build a sustainable economy and have 2.18 million people at work by 2020, the highest in the history of the State.
