{"id":85762,"date":"2025-08-21T08:20:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T08:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/85762\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T08:20:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T08:20:08","slug":"cie-group-pensioners-to-get-increase-after-17-years-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/85762\/","title":{"rendered":"CI\u00c9 group pensioners to get increase after 17 years \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

With unions in the CI\u00c9<\/a> transport companies having this week backed long-discussed pension reforms in the group, it is now up to the Government to put in place measures that will allow retired workers to receive their first increase in about 17 years.<\/p>\n

Minister for Transport Darragh O\u2019Brien<\/a> on Monday welcomed the announcement by the CI\u00c9 unions \u2013 the NBRU, Siptu, Connect, Unite and the TSSA \u2013 that members had backed changes, which had been negotiated with the company in May.<\/p>\n

There are two defined benefit schemes in the CI\u00c9 group \u2013 the Regular Wages Scheme (RWS) and the 1951 Superannuation scheme. <\/p>\n

Members of the RWS backed the reforms by 74 per cent to 26 per cent. The result in the ballot of members of the 1951 scheme was tighter, with the changes being supported by 53 per cent to 47 per cent.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien said the decision \u201cprioritises the collective goal of bringing the CI\u00c9 pensions schemes on to a more sustainable footing and provides for overdue increases for CI\u00c9 pensioners\u201d. <\/p>\n

However, the reforms will have to be backed by O\u2019Brien as Minister for Transport and by Jack Chambers<\/a> as Minister for Public Expenditure.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien had earlier told CI\u00c9 chief executive Lorcan O\u2019Connor<\/a> in a letter in July that if the deal was agreed then he would \u201csupport and actively progress the process for the preparation and consideration of statutory instruments that are required to effect amendments to both schemes\u201d.<\/p>\n

Unions are now likely to press ministers to introduce the necessary measures to allow the reforms come into effect within the next few months.<\/p>\n

There are about 6,400 retired CI\u00c9 transport workers and they have been campaigning for years for a pension increase, citing the rising cost of living. However, the schemes\u2019 actuary did not believe that rises were affordable given deficits of about \u20ac370 million.<\/p>\n

The changes would see the existing two defined-benefit schemes closed to new members, who would be covered by a defined-contribution arrangement.<\/p>\n

Under the new proposals former staff who retired on or before December 31st, 2020, would receive a 5 per cent pension increase, with those who retired in 2021 getting 4 per cent, while those who retired in 2022 are in line for a 3 per cent rise.<\/p>\n

The deal would also allow staff covered by the 1951 scheme opt to cease paying contributions to the defined-benefit scheme once they reached maximum service and contribute instead to the new defined-contribution scheme.<\/p>\n

However, Chambers told Ged Nash<\/a> of the Labour Party<\/a> in a parliamentary answer in May that he did not intend to put in place similar arrangements for staff in the public service.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no plan to amend the pre-existing public service pension scheme rules to allow for cessation of scheme membership and\/or provision of a defined-contribution scheme for members who have attained 40 years\u2019 reckonable service\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With unions in the CI\u00c9 transport companies having this week backed long-discussed pension reforms in the group, it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,51016,133,131,132],"class_list":["post-85762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cie-pensions","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}