Public service pensions will cost the State €2.9 billion this year, Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin has confirmed.
Mr Howlin said legislation outlining a new pension scheme for the public service would be published before the end of the month.
"In 2011, it is estimated that the cost to the Exchequer for Public Service pensions will be €2.9 billion. This is a very substantial bill for the Government which requires structural change," he said.
Mr Howlin likened the public service to a "patchwork quilt" of individual structures with different pay rates, grades, holiday arrangement and working hours. The Government needed to "take a handle on this", he said. "You can't change it all overnight. These are
things that have been there for decades."
Under the new scheme, which will apply to new entrants to the public service, there will be a maximum retirement age of 70 and a minimum pension age of 66. Pensions will be based on 'career average' earnings rather than final salaries.
The Minister said a €200,000 maximum pay rate for new secretary generals of Government Departments had been introduced in June of this year, representing a reduction of almost 30 per cent. "I can tell the committee there's no secretary general receiving a salary greater than that now," he said.
Referring to the Croke Park Agreement, Mr Howlin said the Government wanted to honour commitments made but warned this would only be possible of the agreement was implemented in full.
Meanwhile, a proposal for a constitutional amendment to safeguard the rights of members of the public to communicate in confidence with the public representatives would be brought forward, he said. The legal protection afforded to so-called "whistleblowers" would be significantly bolstered and the regulation of lobbying activity progressed.
