Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 November 2018
193. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if it would cost the Exchequer if the Public Service Superannuation (Age of Retirement) Bill 2018 was backdated to when his interim measure was announced in December 2017; if so, the cost; if there are legal barriers to backdating the legislation; if there are administrative barriers to backdating the legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46505/18]
View answerIn recognition of the fact that there would be a delay between the Government Decision to amend the mandatory retirement age for public servants and the enactment of the legislation to effect the statutory changes to give effect to that policy decision, I introduced temporary arrangements for those facing mandatory retirement in the interim. These arrangements enable public servants who reach the age of 65 to remain in place for 1 year until they reach the age of eligibility for the State pension which is currently 66. The purpose of the arrangements is to offer a limited, temporary solution to individuals who reach the age of 65 before the commencement of the necessary legislation. If the interim arrangements had not existed, the individuals concerned would have had to cease working at age 65 because the policy change proposed can only be effected by legislative change.
The interim arrangements were never intended to and indeed could not offer a perfect solution or put these individuals in the same position as the public servants who are covered by the legislation. I understand that the temporary arrangements were welcomed in that context and it was clearly indicated that availing of the arrangements did not confer any rights on the individual public servant to any new arrangement that might be provided for in future legislation. The legislation has been drafted on that basis and is currently under consideration by the Oireachtas.
The public servants who are availing of the interim arrangements have retired and received their pension benefits. This was necessary in order to respect the current statutory requirement for this cohort to retire at age 65. Lump sums have been paid and participants are no longer paying a pension contribution or accruing additional pension benefits. There are significant complexities associated with the unravelling of that arrangement and the extension of legislative arrangements to this cohort. It would raise issues in terms of how pay and pension should be treated in the context of the period while the individual was on the interim arrangements and into the future. It may require the repayment of lump sums awarded which would present its own difficulties in terms of moneys owing to the Exchequer and possibly also for the individuals concerned. Additional costs in terms of pay would arise in order to place them on a commensurate pay point to those currently covered by the Bill while it would compromise, at additional cost, the current policy with existing retire and rehire arrangements across the public service of recruitment at the minimum point.
With any change in policy, there are always individuals who will lose out because they miss the deadline by a matter of days or weeks. When the interim arrangements were introduced on 5 December 2017, there may have been people who would have wished to avail of the interim arrangements but they did not qualify because they reached the age of 65 a matter of days before the date of the Government Decision. Also, it is likely that given the passage of time, some of those who availed of the interim arrangements may have ceased employment given that over a year will have passed by the time the legislation is enacted. No doubt the matters raised will receive significant attention at Committee Stage for the Bill and I will be happy to engage on those issues as part of the legislative process.
