{"id":621798,"date":"2026-04-21T17:11:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/621798\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T17:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:11:15","slug":"retired-rte-staff-welcome-rejection-of-broadcasters-bid-to-transfer-pension-scheme-costs-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/621798\/","title":{"rendered":"Retired RT\u00c9 staff welcome rejection of broadcaster\u2019s bid to transfer pension scheme costs \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minister for Communications has rejected a bid by RT\u00c9<\/a> to transfer the administration costs of one of its legacy pension schemes to the scheme itself, a move former staff said would have cost them \u20ac40m over the long term.<\/p>\n

The broadcaster first sought the change in February 2020 as part of a wider \u20ac60 million cost-cutting plan but was rebuffed by the department at the time on the basis that in the event the transfer prompted a deficit in the fund, RT\u00c9 would have to make it up. <\/p>\n

The department again rejected the proposal in February 2024 when it said the evidence provided to it by the New Economy and Recovery Authority (NewEra) \u2013 which provides financial advice to departments \u2013 was that it was usual for semi-State bodies to cover the administration costs covered by the scheme.<\/p>\n

On Monday the RT\u00c9 Retired Staff Association (RT\u00c9RSA) welcomed a decision by Patrick O\u2019Donovan<\/a> to maintain the position that the request be rejected.<\/p>\n

Chair Phil Healy said that after a long and determined campaign against the proposals, it was \u201ca good day for occupational pensioners and proves that older people can raise their voices\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe the move would have been detrimental to future payments and cost-of-living increments for our members. It is particularly important for those members who due to the rules of the scheme do not qualify for a State pension or benefits and rely solely on their RT\u00c9 pension,\u201d Healy said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt would also have set a very negative precedent for pensioners in other schemes sponsored by commercial State bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pension plan, which is a defined benefit scheme under which members are paid a proportion of their salaries depending on service, was closed to new members in 1989.<\/p>\n

It has a total of 1,601 members of whom the number still working in RT\u00c9 is said to be in single figures.<\/p>\n

The broadcaster had argued that even after factoring in pension increases of 4 per cent every year for as long as any members survive, the fund has a surplus of \u20ac61 million. <\/p>\n

It had suggested setting aside \u20ac20m of this would have covered all future costs, which had been put at \u20ac500,000 per annum when the original application was made but which are said to have increased significantly since.<\/p>\n

Approached for comment on Monday, the broadcaster said it \u201cnoted the decision\u201d by the Minister. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Minister for Communications has rejected a bid by RT\u00c9 to transfer the administration costs of one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,211009,184,185,24091],"class_list":{"0":"post-621798","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-patrick-o-donovan","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-personalfinance","15":"tag-rte"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}