Vol. 507 No. 1
24 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the widespread concern among retired public servants in relation to the way in which the Government decision on pension parity of November 1997 has been implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16134/99]
Following the Government decision in November 1997 to apply parity with a floor of 3 per cent to public servants who had retired before the commencement dates of restructuring pay deals under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work, my Department issued comprehensive guidelines for dealing with cases. Initially, there were difficulties in interpreting how these guidelines should be applied to certain groups of pensioners, particularly in the local authority and health board areas. These issues were subsequently resolved and my Department along with other Departments made every effort to ensure public sector bodies implemented fully the terms of the Government decision.
The issues now being pursued by certain pensioner groups dispute aspects of settled pensions parity policy. For example, some pensioners want personal long service increments paid to certain serving staff under their PCW restructuring pay deals to be passed on to retired personnel. My Department has made it clear from the beginning that it is a core element of pensions parity policy that such payments are not passed on to pensioners because they are not a permanent feature of the pay scale. This was one of the key criteria set out in the guidelines issued to Departments.
