New Single Public Service Pension Scheme

In Budget 2010, the Minister for Finance announced the proposed introduction of a new single pension scheme for all new entrants to the public service from 2011.  This new scheme is to reduce the Exchequer cost of public service pensions in the longer-term.    The main provisions of the proposed new scheme are;

• raising the minimum pension age to 66 years initially and then linking it to the state pension age
• a maximum retirement age of 70 years;
• career average earnings rather than final salary to be used to calculate pension  (a pension amount to accrue each year and this to be up-rated each year by the CPI so as to maintain its purchasing power).

Legislation is due to be published shortly facilitating the introduction of the new scheme, in line with the commitments made in the EU/IMF Programme of Financial Support for Ireland.

Public Service Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004

This Act provided for a number of major reforms, including an increase in the minimum pension age from 60 to 65 years and the abolition of compulsory retirement age, for new entrants to the public service after 1 April 2004.

The Act is available here.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act, 2009 (No. 5 of 2009)

This Act introduced a pension-related deduction for public servants.

The Act is available here.

The Act was subsequently amended by the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2009 and by the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2010.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Act 2009

This Act reduced public service pay rates with effect from 1 January 2010.  The Act provided that for the purposes of calculating pension entitlements, the pay reductions would be disregarded for persons who left the public service by 31 December 2010 or a later date specified by the Minister.  This is known as the ‘grace period’ and has since been extended to 29 February 2012.

The Act is available here.

The order for the extension of the ‘grace period’ (Public Service Pension Rights Order S.I. No. 80 of 2011) is available here.

Certain other amendments to the Act, relating to the grace period, were made in the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2010.

Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2010

This Act reduced certain public service pensions with effect from 1 January 2011.

The Act is available here.