Pension Provisions
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-13
============================================================

Eoghan Kenny (LAB), Cork North-Central

I appreciate the reply from the Department. I want to give some context to the significant issue I raised. Yesterday, in my office, I met a former CIÉ worker, a pensioner. This is the fundamental issue he is facing right now, as it is for those he meets for the monthly cup of tea or coffee - the conversation they once had in their staffroom. On the new defined contribution scheme, the Minister acknowledged the positive outcome of the ballot held on 15 August 2025. Following on from this constructive and collaborative agreement, the Department of Transport is engaging with CÍÉ. It brings us back to fundamental fact – the proposals were accepted on 15 August 2025. The agreement states that pensioners will receive increases on acceptance. That is not ambiguous language, yet today, pensioners have received nothing because the Government has failed to act in a timely manner. References to process and statutory instruments do not change that reality. Administrative delay by the State cannot become a justification for the financial loss of pensioners. The question remains and deserves a clear answer – when the statutory instrument is eventually introduced, will the pension increases be backdated to 15 August 2025? I think it is the case in a lot of similar situations to that of the man I met yesterday, who I know very well, and of all the pensioners in CIÉ, that it is often the case that the money itself is not the actual issue. It is that they signed up to this agreement under a pretence on 15 August 2025 - understandably it would have taken a period of time to get the agreement in place - but their fundamental question now is whether, if it happens in one year, two years or three years, it will be backdated to 15 August 2025, when that agreement was reached?

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-13