NEWLY HIRED air traffic controllers will have to work an extra five years before retiring if plans to tackle the €234 million hole in their pension funds are adopted, it has emerged.
Eamonn Brennan, chief executive of the Irish Aviation Authority, said the high salaries of controllers had contributed to the multimillion euro pension deficit.
“We are a well-paid organisation,” he told the Oireachtas transport committee yesterday. “The reason the pension fund is in such dire straits is that the salaries are so high.”
The current retirement age for controllers stands at 60. Under the plan, those now aged between 50 and 60 will have to work until 61, the 40-to-50 age bracket will continue until 62, while those aged between 20 and 30 will work until 65. The authority also wants staff to pay pension contributions in line with the Civil Service.
It said controllers were paid about €160,000 when pension contributions were factored in.
When asked about the age increase, the authority said controllers had medical and competency exams every year.
Mr Brennan said the strike by air traffic controllers in January, which grounded flights and caused disruption to passengers, was about using “industrial muscle to force a 6 per cent pay increase”.
Tommy Broughan (Labour) told Mr Brennan it was incredible that he had permitted the situation to develop.