Vol. 535 No. 4
163 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Finance his response to the request of the Retired Nurses Association of Ireland that present day retired nurses be excluded from the pensions commission recommendation and that they retain their existing parity; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12837/01]
The Government will make a formal response to the Commission on Public Service Pensions' recommendations once it has considered that report in detail. The Government will then move to establish the working group, provided for under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, to advise on implementation of the relevant Government decisions. The working group will comprise representatives of the public service unions, relevant Departments, and other appropriate bodies.
The commission's recommendations have implications for all parties having an interest in public service pensions – the Government, public service employers, trade unions, pensioner associations, such as the Retired Nurses Association of Ireland, individual public servants, and pensioners, as well as the taxpayer. For this reason, the Government is taking particular care in examining the report.
When publishing the report, I commented on the commission view that its recommendations represented an integrated and cohesive long-term strategy for public service pensions, and that in implementing this strategy it would be important to preserve the integrity of the measures in the report as a whole. As I stated then, I expect this to be a significant consideration in deciding the Government's response to the commission's report. It would, therefore, be inappropriate to address specific issues in isolation at this stage.
