Written Answers Nos. 175-185
175. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the discussions that have taken place to allocate the remaining €2.5 billion left in the capital plan budget ahead of a mid-year review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7483/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department has commenced work on the review of the Capital Plan advising Departments of the content required for their submissions to the review and conducting a formal briefing for all Departments/Offices on the review process.
Departments are required to make submissions, including proposals for any of the additional capital funding available, by end February 2017. A public consultation will also be initiated in the coming weeks. My Department will assess the submissions received and make recommendations to Government in Q3 2017, to inform decisions by Government on revised capital allocations in the context of Budget 2018.
The Deputy will, therefore, appreciate that any consideration or examination of funding allocations can only commence on the basis of the submissions received from Departments and following the completion of my Department's assessment and analysis of these proposals, taking into account the outcome of the consultation process.
The Capital Plan sets out a €42 billion framework to address our priority infrastructure needs up to 2021. Government identified an additional €5.14 billion funding for capital in the 2016 Summer Economic Statement.
Last year, €2.2 billion of the additional capital was allocated to the Government's initiatives aimed at tackling the housing crisis, as detailed in the Action Plan on Housing and Homelessness. Taking account of further allocations made in Budget 2017, approximately €2.65 billion remains to be allocated over the period 2018-2021.
The priority for the review is to ensure that this additional capital funding is aligned with national economic and social priorities, consistent with Programme for Government objectives, and helps to underpin sustainable medium-term economic growth and future growth potential.
176. Deputy Noel Rock asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will fast-track the purchase of land (details supplied) from his Department by Fingal County Council and allow the land to be better utilised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7571/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder Section 28(2) of the State Property Act, 1954, land vested in or held in trust for a body corporate immediately prior to its dissolution, (other than land held by such body in trust for another person) becomes property of the State in the person of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The interest acquired by the Minister is described as a defeasible interest as it may be defeated by restoration of the company up to 20 years after dissolution. I as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform have the discretion, under Section 31 of the State Property Act 1954, to waive property that has devolved to the State under Section 28 if I believe it is proper to do so having regard to all the circumstances of the case.
The land referred to by the Deputy is registered to a company that has been dissolved since 2011. If Fingal County Council wish to have the property referred to waived to them then an application for waiver should be made. The waiver application must be accompanied by a standard set of supporting documentation. The property may be waived to Fingal Council, if having regard to all the circumstances of the case, it is deemed proper to do so.
177. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the reason public servants in receipt of a public service pension have the pension levy deducted from their pensions; the rate at which it is deducted; his plans to reduce the pension levy in the coming years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7598/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra178. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the reductions that have taken place in public service pensions since 2008; his plans to reverse these reductions in line with the reversal of reductions in public service salaries that is proposed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7599/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra179. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the details of the relationship that exists between increases in public service wages and a consequential increase in public service pensions; if this connection has been broken; the basis on which public service pensions are now increased; the frequency of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7600/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 177 to 179, inclusive, together.
The Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR), which was introduced on 1 January 2011, is the only measure which has decreased the pay-out value of public service pensions since 2008.
PSPR applies as a progressively structured imposition on public service pensions under terms set out in the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) Act 2010, as amended. As such it has been and remains an important element of the pay and pension measures under the financial emergency legislation which have been critical to the stabilisation of the public finances.
When introduced, PSPR applied to all pensions in payment above €12,000, with each affected pension subject to reduction based on a table of money bands and associated percentage reduction rates. It applied in the same way from that time to all new pensions awarded up to end-February 2012, which was the expiry date of a "grace period" during which the 2010 public service salary cuts were not reflected in new-award pension calculations. The PSPR table applying to all of these pensions, as commenced on 1 January 2011 was as follows:
|
Annualised amount of public service pension |
Reduction |
|
Up to €12,000 |
Exempt |
|
Any amount over €12,000 but not over €24,000 |
6% |
|
Any amount over €24,000 but not over €60,000 |
9% |
|
Any amount over €60,000 |
12% |
On 1 January 2012 an adjustment affecting a very small number of pensions was introduced by way of a new top rate of PSPR, of 20%, applied to that portion on any PSPR-affected pension in excess of €100,000.
On 1 July 2013, additional PSPR-based pension cuts were imposed as part of the further retrenchments of public service pay and pensions legislated under FEMPI 2013. These additional cuts were confined to higher-value pensions, defined as those with a pre-PSPR value exceeding, at least, €32,500, and were implemented in two ways.
First, the existing PSPR rates, which applied to qualifying pensions awarded up to up to end-February 2012, the "grace period" expiry date, were increased for all pensions with pre-PSPR values above €34,132.
Second, post-February 2012-awarded pensions greater than €32,500, which up to then had been exempt from PSPR, were subjected to a new group-specific PSPR rate regime, featuring lower rates than those applied to earlier-awarded pensions. The low-rate regime in respect of these pensions reflected the fact that, unlike earlier-awarded pensions, those pensions reflected actual rather than grace period-protected salary rates.
These 2013 changes effectively instituted three separate PSPR rate tables, differentiated by pension size relative to a threshold value, and by date of pension award. Commencing 1 January 2016, PSPR as applied by reference to these three tables is being significantly reversed in three stages under FEMPI 2015. This reversal is proceeding in three stages over the 2016 to 2018 period as follows:
On 1 January 2016, increases in the annual pension thresholds for PSPR application were activated. These exemption threshold increases fully removed PSPR from a significant number of pensions with relatively lower values, while those pensions which continued to be impacted by PSPR received a boost of €400 per year.
On 1 January 2017, additional PSPR amelioration, acting principally via further exemption threshold increases, fully removed PSPR from another significant tranche of public service pensioners, while at the same time boosting those pensions which remain affected by PSPR, in most cases, by up to €500 per year.
On 1 January 2018, the third phase of PSPR amelioration will ensure that all PSPR-impacted pensions with values up to €34,132 will be fully restored, meaning that PSPR will no longer affect such pensions, while those pensions which continue to be impacted by PSPR will get a boost of, in most cases, €780 per year.
Over the 2016-2018 implementation period of these FEMPI 2015 PSPR changes, the PSPR exemption threshold will progressively expand as follows: In 2016, all pensions up to €18,700 were exempt from PSPR; from 1 January 2017, all pensions below €26,000 are now exempt from PSPR; and from 1 January 2018 all pensions up to €34,132 will be exempt from PSPR.
This means that, when fully rolled-out from 1 January 2018, these PSPR amelioration steps will ensure that most public service pensioners are not affected by PSPR. All public service pensions with pre-PSPR values of up to €34,132 will be fully exempt from PSPR from then on, while those pensioners not fully removed from the reach of PSPR will, in the majority of cases, benefit by €1,680 per year. The cost of these changes is estimated at about €90 million on a full-year basis from 2018.
In the past, the ocupational pensions received by public service pensioners were generally adjusted in line with changes in the wages or salary of the pensioner's grade at retirement. Sometime referred to as "pay parity", this non-statutory linkage lapsed in 2010 when pensions were left unchanged notwithstanding salary cuts at the beginning of that year affecting all public servants. This pension protection, albeit tempered from 2011 in some cases by the imposition of PSPR, has worked to the benefit of pensioners, as indeed have the "grace periods" in respect of new-award pensions which accompanied the public service salary cuts in 2010 and 2013. PSPR is also being reduced at a faster pace and to a greater degree than the ameliorisation of the pay reductions.
In light of these developments, the issue of how to adjust the post-award value of public service pensions through appropriate pay or other linkages will be considered by Government in due course.
180. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the action the Office of Public Works plans to take to address a building (details supplied). [7660/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Office of Public Works (OPW) is not the owner of the former Courthouse in Tipperary Town. Consequently, it is not a matter for OPW to carry out any repairs which may be required for this building.
181. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the status of legal proceedings taken by the Office of Public Works (details supplied). [7688/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe premises referred to has been vacated since the Summer of 2014. The matter is the subject of legal proceedings which are ongoing at present. On foot of legal advice, it is not appropriate at this time to provide any further detail on this matter so as not to prejudice the outcome of this case.
182. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the cost of registered post for ballot papers in the National University of Ireland constituency in the general election to Seanad Éireann in 2016. [7694/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe cost of registered post for ballot papers in the National University of Ireland constituency in the General Election to Seanad Éireann in 2016 is €0.636m.
183. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the cost of registered post for ballot papers in the University of Dublin constituency in the general election to Seanad Éireann in 2016. [7695/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe cost of registered post for ballot papers in the University of Dublin constituency in the General Election to Seanad Éireann in 2016 is €0.356m.
184. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the cost of litreacha um thoghcháin for candidates in the National University of Ireland and University of Dublin constituencies in the general election to Seanad Éireann in 2016. [7696/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn the General Election to Seanad Éireann in 2016, the cost of litreacha um thoghcháin for candidates in the National University of Ireland constituency is €1.386m and in the University of Dublin constituency is €0.443m.
185. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the way in which the State proposes to utilise the lands at Glenasmole-Featherbeds which were purchased recently; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7542/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe lands referred to will be managed as part of the Wicklow Mountains National Park.
While the lands will be primarily managed for Nature Conservation, other uses such as recreation will be considered where compatible with the Park’s Nature Conservation objectives. Given the high conservation value and sensitivity of the Blanket Bog and Heathland habitats, provision of high volume recreational uses with visitor facilities and other supporting infrastructure is unlikely.
As the lands in question are located in Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Special Protection Area (SPA) there are already constraints and obligations placed on landowners, the State included, on how the lands are used.
In addition, the legal rights and burdens such as Grazing, Sporting and Turbary rights held by individuals have to be respected and will be considered within the management options available to the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
