Tom Neville
Ceist:172. Deputy Tom Neville asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on a matter (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5816/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 6 February 2018
Ceisteanna (172)
Freagraí scríofa
My Department's funding relationship with the Education and Training Board concerned regarding the organisation referred to by the Deputy is predicated on the basis that it is self-financing and that its financial activities are separate from the overall ETB finances. Accordingly, annual grants for same are contributory in nature.
Generally, only pensionable public servants who (a) are not members of the Single Public Service Pension Scheme (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012, and (b) are appointed under section 19 of Education and Training Boards Act 2013 to be a member of staff of an education and training board, shall, on their appointment to the education and training board concerned, become and be a member of a relevant superannuation scheme (e.g. Education Sector Superannuation Scheme, SI 290 of 2015) in accordance with its terms and conditions. Access to a Public Sector Pension Scheme is determined by a number of factors, and it is a matter for each ETB to determine whether a person is eligible to become a member of the relevant superannuation scheme in accordance within the relevant rules and regulations.
Under Section 2 of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) Act, 2009, as amended, a person is liable to pay the pensions-related deduction if he or she is a public servant on or after the 1 March 2009 and is a member of a public service pension scheme, is entitled to a benefit under the scheme or receives a payment in lieu of membership of such a scheme.
Accordingly, an individual who is not entitled to a pension benefit from his/her employment such as the person to whom the Deputy refers, may be required to pay the pension related deduction (PRD) in certain other circumstances, including if he/she receives a payment in lieu of membership of a public service pension scheme. In that regard, for example, a non-pensionable gratuity is payable to certain staff of educational training boards whose service is not reckonable for superannuation purposes.
The PRD forms part of a wider set of financial emergency measures affecting public service pay and pensions which were directed at securing a stabilisation in the public finances. The FEMPI Act has been amended in respect of PRD to provide for a significant easing of the PRD burden on affected public servants by way of revised thresholds.