RETIRED nurses are to begin a political lobbying campaign to ensure that any increase awarded to their colleagues in the current dispute over pay is reflected in their own pension entitlements.
There are an estimated 5,000 retired nurses in receipt of State pensions, and any concession to them would have a knock on effect for many more public service pensioners.
When the first national agreement, the Programme for National Recovery, was agreed in 1987, the Government issued a regulation stating that pay rises negotiated as part of a restructuring deal could not be passed on to pensioners who retired before the deal was concluded.
This has become an issue only this year, as unions begin concluding deals under the PESP and PCW.
Notionally these are worth 3 per cent overall. But in many cases much more has been offered to certain groups - particularly those with long service at the top of existing scales.
In the case of staff nurses, those with more than 15 years' service were offered 14 per cent under the £50 million package recently rejected by the Irish Nurses Organisation.
The chairman of the eastern branch of the Retired Nurses Association, Mr Peter Holland, said that his members had voted at a mass meeting in Dublin to lobby all political parties to maintain pension parity. He added that "99 per cent" of them would qualify on service for increases at the top of the scale.
Mr Noel Dowling, a SIPTU nursing officer, said that the Department of Finance, which must sanction any change in the regulation, was taking far too long to reach a decision.
The chairman of the public service committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr Dan Murphy, said that it was awaiting a response from the Department. Mr Murphy's own union, the Public Service Executive Union, would be one of many which also has retired members who could be affected.
One problem is that restructuring deals vary enormously. In the case of PSEU members, some increases are personal to the individual member concerned. The teaching unions, on the other hand, have been offered a straight 3 per cent for their pensioners as part of the PCW deal.
The Garda Representative Association negotiated an extremely divisive deal in which allowances are calculable for pension purposes among existing members only.
Mr Murphy says he is optimistic that a successful deal can be negotiated for all public service pensioners.
The Department of Finance says it will address the issue when agreement is reached on all outstanding restructuring claims. MORE than 900 calls were received by a telephone helpline service established by Women's Aid, Dundalk, in the 12 months to last September.
Yesterday the President, Mrs Robinson, opened a women's refuge in Dundalk, the second in the North Eastern Health Board area.
While 314 women aged 40 to 50 contacted the service, 310 were between 30 and 40; 123 were under 30; 184 50 to 60 and six women were over 60. Of these, 45 were "crisis" calls.
Mrs Robinson praised Women's Aid and the NEHB for establishing the refuge. It was very important to be "open about the dark side of family life and how some families are not secure but a terrible trauma for women and children. Women who have to leave home because of violence feel totally humiliated ... in the refuge they begin to rebuild their life," she said.
The house accommodates five women and their children. It cost £150,000 and was funded by health board and local efforts.
Ms Una McGuill of Women's Aid said "the need for a refuge is a sad reflection of the level of violence directed at women and children by men known to them."