Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 23 Feb 1993

Vol. 426 No. 5

Adjournment Debate. - Garda Pension Rights.

Mr. Browne

(Carlow-Kilkenny): In the Department of Justice or in any Department there should be no question mark over fair play. However, since the Department of Justice is involved in administering justice, there is a special onus on it to look after its employees.

When the Garda Representative Association and the AGSI went to arbitration in the autumn of 1982, the arbitrator's report recommended that the Garda rent allowance should be regarded as salary and, therefore, included for pension qualifications. His recommendation "that the commencement date be 1 October 1982", has been misinterpreted by the Department of Justice, under pressure, I presume, from the Department of Finance, and is a grave injustice to the men who have served this country well when times were bad.

It is difficult to see how rent allowance paid to a garda after 1 October 1982 can qualify for pension purposes, while pre-1982 rent payments should not be allowed. The principle of accepting rent allowance as part of salary does not change in practice by choice of dates. The rent allowance is either part of the salary or it is not. It makes no sense to say that some of it is part of salary, while other rent allowance is not. The arbitrator's recommendation "that the commencement date be 1 October 1982" appears to me to mean that payment commences from that date, not that this is the commencement date to qualify for pension purposes, which is the Department's interpretation.

The argument put forward by civil servants on behalf of the Minister at the arbitration hearing that the cost would be several million pounds, suggests that they were thinking of all retired gardaí rather than those retiring after October 1982. Otherwise, there would be no justification for talking about the cost because it would be pittance after October 1982. It is my view that a grave injustice has been done to these men who retired before October 1982. I believe the Minister cannot hide behind financial restraints and prevent justice being done.

The only criterion being used in deciding whether to implement the recommendation in this case is that of cost. Fair play cannot be determined by financial considerations. Once a principle is established it must hold. That is why the decision of the Department of Justice to ignore the rent allowance for pension purposes for those gardaí who retired before October 1982 is unfair, unjust and indefensible.

I hope the Minister will not reply in the same language used in answer to my parliamentary question. The interpretation of the arbitration ruling cannot, in my opinion, be that of the Department. That is why I am asking the Minister to reconsider this decision.

Minister of State at the Department of Justice (Mr. O'Dea)

Deputy Browne should not try to anticipate me because I am full of surprises.

I am pleased to be in a position to respond to this matter and to help clarify this situation for the information of the House. First, I should state that there is no justification for the use of the term "discrimination" in relation to pension rights of members of the Garda Síochána who retired before 1 October 1982. This date was determined by the Garda Arbitration Board, whose chairman is an independent entity, in the Garda Arbiration Board report No. 15 of March 1983 as being the commencement date for pension purposes of a number of allowances, including rent allowance.

As the Minister explained in her reply to Questions Nos. 19 and 50 on Wednesday, 17 February 1993, the provision is that the Garda Representative Association and the Association of Garda Sergants and Inspectors referred the claim to arbitration to have a number of allowances paid to members of the Garda Síochána made pensionable. The arbitrator recommended in March 1983 that some of those allowances, including rent allowance, should be made pensionable with effect from 1 October 1982. The recommendations contained in the Garda Arbitration Board report No. 15 have been fully implemented. A copy of this arbitration report is available in the Library.

It might be helpful to Members if I describe briefly the background to the conciliation and arbitration mechanism under which this report was originally issued. After long and detailed discussions some years back with the four Garda representative associations which represent the various ranks in the Garda Síochána, up to and including the rank of Chief Superintendent, the present Garda conciliation and arbitration scheme was put in place. The scheme provides for a Garda conciliation council and an arbitration board which may deal with claims and proposals in relation to the pay and conditions of service of the members of the ranks represented by the association. The scheme is similar to other schemes operating elsewhere in the public service and provides for the direct participation of representatives of the Minister for Finance in negotiations under the scheme. If, as in this case, agreement is not reached at conciliation, the matter may go before the Garda Síochána Arbitration Board, the chairman of which is appointed by the Government on the nomination of the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Finance, in agreement with the representative bodies concerned. The arbitrator's recommendations in this case was that 1 October 1982 be the commencement date for a number of allowances to be made pensionable, including the rent allowance.

Under the terms of the Garda conciliation and arbitration scheme, pensionability of allowances is not an arbitrary matter. However, under the terms of the Second National Understanding then in operation, the matter was allowed to go to arbitration. I cannot stress enough to this House that the terms of the Garda Arbitration Board report No. 15 have been fully implemented.

The Garda Síochána Pensioners' Association subsequently asked to have the benefits of the recommendation concerning rent allowance applied to their members who retired before 1 October 1982. The association was informed in August 1984 that because of the unfavourable and considerable costs involved and the critical state of the Exchequer finances, the recommendation could not be applied to those members. There are no proposals, unfortunately, to change that decision.

The following is an estimate of the cost involved if pensionability of rent allowance were to be extended to members of the Garda Síochána who retired before 1 October 1982. If rent allowances were to be made pensionable for members and surviving spouses of members which is estimated at 682 and 1,845 respectively, who retired before 1 October 1982, the full cost in 1983 would be approximately £1.2 million. This estimate, of course, does not provide for retrospection. An estimate of the cost in subsequent years would require detailed information on and analysis of the age distribution and, therefore, the life expectancy of the pensioners in question. The information readily available would suggest that the corresponding cost in 1997 would be £600,000 falling to £200,000 by the year 2002. Unfortunately, from the point of view of the people who might benefit — and I have every sympathy with them — the decision of the Government is that the report which is being implemented stands and there will be no retrospection.