THE IRISH AVIATION Authority, which controls the nation’s airspace, published its annual report this week showing a heady 19 per cent rise in after-tax profit to €7.9 million.
Turnover at the State-owned company was up 6 per cent as air- traffic activity increased during the year across all headings.
There was no dividend payment for Minister for Finance Michael Noonan due to a widening of the authority’s pension deficit.
Chairwoman Anne Nolan said the €132.5 net pension deficit “prevents consideration of the payment of a dividend to the shareholder at this time”.
The IAA’s shareholder funds fell to €24.9 million last year from €49.8 million in 2010 due to an increase in the pension liability, she added.
The scheme’s funding wasn’t helped by Noonan’s decision last year to impose a 0.6 per cent levy on pension fund assets out to 2014. The IAA estimates that this will cost the scheme €8.2 million over the four-year period. To compensate, staff have agreed to extend their pay and pensions freeze by an additional 18 months to June 30th, 2015.
The 1996 IAA Staff Superannuation Scheme is one of the better defined benefit funds around. Until last year, staff made no contribution to the scheme. They now make a 6 per cent contribution as part of a wider deal to close the deficit, which involves the IAA making an annual injection of €5.4 million in addition to the 30.5 per cent contribution its makes on behalf of staff.
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