Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 November 2016
407. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the reason the 2009 legislation does not provide for the application of a separate set of thresholds for individual employments but rather one set of thresholds for the totality of the public service remuneration in a given year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37497/16]
View answerIt is assumed that the Deputy is referring to the public service Pension-Related Deduction (PRD), which applies to the pay of pensionable public servants under the terms of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009.
The exemption thresholds and rate bands for PRD have always applied to the total public service pay of affected public servants, not to the pay associated with individual posts. A minority of pensionable public servants may be employed in two public service posts simultaneously, for example holders of two part-time jobs in teaching or in the health sector. In any such case, it is fair and reasonable that the combined pay from both employments is subjected to PRD on a basis which gives a monetary outcome equal to what would arise if the person received the same pay from just a single post.
It should also be noted that all PRD-impacted public servant persons are benefitting from a significant PRD amelioration provided for under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2015. This amelioration means that, from 1 January 2016, all persons with annual public service earnings of up to €26,083 are exempt from PRD, and from 1 January 2017 this exemption threshold will rise to €28,750.
