Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 March 2021
601. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Social Protection the status of plans to provide pension provision as per a 2008 Labour Court recommendation for community employment supervisors; the engagement under way; the timeframe for a decision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12947/21]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, Community Employment (CE) supervisors and assistant supervisors have been seeking for several years, through their union representatives, the allocation of Exchequer funding to implement a 2008 Labour Court recommendation relating to the provision of a pension scheme for CE supervisors who are employed by CE schemes.
CE sponsoring authorities are the legal employers of their CE supervisors, CE assistant supervisors and CE participants. The Department’s role continues to be that of CE funder.
This issue was examined by a Community Sector High Level Forum, chaired by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. A number of Departments, including my own Department, were represented on this group, as were the unions and Pobal.
In its findings, the High-level Group stated that while CE supervisors and assistant supervisors represented only a very small part of the wider community and voluntary sector, any explicit provision of State funding for such a scheme in respect of CE Supervisors could potentially give rise to claims for funding for employees in the broader sector. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform stated that it had to have regard to any potential Exchequer exposure associated with dealing with the specific issue as regards CE supervisors arising from the Labour Court recommendation.
At this point, I want to acknowledge the valuable and dedicated service that CE supervisors provide in running CE schemes delivering local based community services while providing a valuable training and development opportunity to the long-term unemployed and to those often furthest removed from the labour market.
The current position is that officials from my Department, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are engaging in discussions on this issue and I am hopeful that, with goodwill and flexibility on all sides, a resolution can be found in the near future.
Funding of any potential pension provision for CE supervisors will ultimately be a matter for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and will need to be considered in the wider economic and budgetary context in which any such scheme will need to operate.
As the Deputy will be aware, these matters take time to resolve given the complexity of the subject, the wider financial implications and the number of parties involved. It is therefore not possible at the present time to predict, how much more time is required to bring this matter to a satisfactory conclusion. Nevertheless I, and my colleague the Minster for Public Expenditure and Reform are keen to find an approach that will resolve this issue as soon as possible.
