RMA submission to the Alliance of Retired Public Servants on Pension Restoration provisions.

First of all, the RMATUI wishes to thank the officers of the Alliance for their efforts on behalf of retired public servants. We welcome the Government’s package insofar as it will fully restore the pensions of many of our members, though in an inordinately long time-frame, one consequence of which is that their pensions will be further eroded by inflation.

However, we are seriously disappointed with the terms of the package, for a number of reasons:

1. It contains no time-frame for the restoration of pensions above €34,132.00, despite the fact that workers earning over €65,000 are scheduled to have their salaries fully restored by 2018.
2. We estimate that more than half our members’ pensions exceed the threshold for full restoration as scheduled.
3. It is unacceptable that pensioners are not accorded the comparable degree of restoration as our serving peers who have greater life expectancy.
4. It does not address the anomalous position of those who retired after March 2012, or who will retire before January 2018.  Their pensions were reduced under emergency legislation prior to retirement, and it is very unfair that this anomaly has not been addressed.  Are they to lose out forever because of factors outside their control?
5. Though not part of the ‘cuts’ or the restoration package, the ‘co-ordinated pension’ issue must also be addressed as it affects most if not all of our members as retired public servants, and given our continued presence in the USC net we will continue to be penalised as long as the anomaly exists.
6. We urge the Alliance to prioritise the above issues and also to seek mechanisms to ensure that the economic value of pensions is protected in the future.
7. The RMATUI calls on the Alliance to convene a special meeting of its Council as soon as possible to advance a pre-budget campaign to demand that pensioned members be treated no less favourably in monetary terms, than those in the workforce.