EMPLOYERS' GROUP: Ibec has said the Government must move to cap the escalating cost of the provision of public sector pensions and introduce reforms in this area.

Ibec describes as "very worrying" the revelation last week that the State's bill for providing pensions for serving and retired staff in the public service was now

75 billion.

Ibec director Brendan McGinty said that 10 years ago, this figure was estimated at

25 billion.

Among the reforms put forward by Ibec are the introduction of contribution rate cap beyond which employees would have to fund any pension liabilities on an equal basis.

Ibec also said that the Government should move quickly to complete and publish a detailed actuarial analysis of the pension liabilities for public sector employees.

It also said that all public servants should be required to contribute towards the cost of funding retirement benefits and that staff should be made aware of the value of their pensions.

Ibec suggested that payslips should record the indicative value of pension contribution rates.

The employers' organisation said that under current rules in the public service, in the majority of cases the pension payable was currently linked to the salary scale of the employee's former role.

Mr McGinty said that there were some retired public servants who were receiving more in pensions than they had earned in salaries for the job. He said this was not credible.

Ibec would be raising the pensions issue as part of discussions for public sector reform at the forthcoming national pay talks.

If the Irish Congress of Trade Unions votes at a special conference today to enter these talks, the proceedings could get under way as early as next week.

In a statement yesterday, Mr McGinty said that private sector employees were currently facing the prospect that they may be among the 1,300 that were now losing their jobs each week.

He said that even the prudent employees and self-employed who made provision for themselves and their families at retirement had to face the uncertainty of global markets.

"The generous State-backed pension scheme enjoyed by public sector employees would offer them security beyond their wildest dreams.

"Civil servants recruited since 1995, who now make a contribution to their own pensions, were reimbursed for this in the form of a salary increase, fully paid for out of the public purse.

"Despite very modest reforms in recent years," Mr McGinty added, "these are a far cry from the reforms introduced in the private sector and about 60 per cent of public sector workers continue to enjoy the more generous pre- 1995 pension benefits."