Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 July 2026
281. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if his Department will look favourably on an appeal submitted by a person (details supplied); to provide an update on the status of the appeal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51386/26]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, my department has overarching responsibly for public service pension policy, including pension appeals. Circular 16/2020 titled ‘Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) procedure for pension appeals in relation to beneficiaries/disputed beneficiaries of pre-existing civil service pension schemes and of certain public service pre-existing pension schemes’ replaces all previous circulars/letters/guidance issued on pension appeals/IDR procedures relating to pre-existing schemes in the:
• the civil service, and
• the public service where it is specified in either the governing legislation establishing the body, or in the pension scheme rules, that I as Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (or formerly Minister for Finance) am responsible for making the determination.
It should be noted that the appeal process is undertaken with the intent of establishing whether the relevant legislation, existing pension scheme terms/rules, and other formal policies and procedures have been adhered to in the making of the original decision. The appeal process does not provide discretion to alter scheme rules.
It should be further noted that Section 7 of Circular 16/2020 provides that comments are restricted while an appeal is under consideration: ‘From the time a person commences the formal appeal process (see Stage 2 in appendix) until a determination has issued, the appellant should receive no communication either in writing or verbally to indicate the possible success or failure of their appeal.’
The circular provides an indicative timeline of three months for a Notice of Determination to issue from receipt of the full information required to assess an appeal.
In some cases, a longer timeline may be necessary. This can arise when there is a substantial volume of documentation submitted, where the matters being considered are particularly complex and/or where third-party advice is required. In addition, there are a large number of pension appeal cases on hand with my department at present which require detailed and careful consideration.
While it is not possible to provide appellants with revisions to the indicative timeline set out under the circular on an ad-hoc basis, I wish to advise that my department is committed to progressing pension appeals received to a conclusion in as short a timeframe as possible.
As outlined in Circular 16/2020, should an appellant have a query connected to this circular, they can contact their relevant HR Unit.
