More than 6,000 retired staff who formerly worked for the State-owned CIÉ bus and rail companies should receive their first pension increases in nearly 18 years in the coming weeks, Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien has indicated.Ministers last week approved proposals to reform the pension arrangements in the CIÉ group – a move that marks a significant step towards the provision of increases of up to 5 per cent for the retired transport personnel.There will now be a formal observation period of about 28 days in relation to the statutory instruments covering the proposed pension changes, which have been authorised by O’Brien and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers. Under the reforms, which were negotiated between the group and trade unions a year ago, about 6,400 retired staff who had worked in Dublin Bus, Irish Rail and Bus Éireann as well as the CIÉ holding company, would receive the increases. O’Brien told The Irish Times in a statement on Sunday that the agreement between unions, workers and management marked “a major milestone in securing the long-term sustainability of the CIÉ pension scheme, ensuring it is placed on a solvent and stable footing for the future”.“Importantly, it will also deliver long-overdue benefits for retired members, who will receive increases to their pensions for the first time in many years.”“The process will be completed in the coming weeks and the benefits of the agreement will then be fully realised,” he said.Under the reform proposals, the precise increase for pensioners would be calculated on a sliding basis depending on the date of retirement of the individual concerned.Former staff who retired on or before December 31st, 2020, would receive a 5 per cent pension increase, with those who retired in 2021 getting 4 per cent, while those who retired in 2022 are in line for a 3 per cent rise.It is also proposed that a new “pension protocol” will be put in place – similar to the arrangement in other commercial State companies – to determine increases that may apply in future years.Under the proposals, which follow lengthy talks between the CIÉ companies and trade unions, existing defined benefit schemes would be closed to new entrants.[ I have a full State pension and €1.25m in my private pension funds. How much will I get?Opens in new window ]It is understood the CIÉ group, which comprises Irish Rail, Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann, will provide about €30 million to fund the cost of the rise for retired personnel who last received a pension increase in 2008, with the Government providing “a letter of support” for the proposed pension deal.Retired staff have been campaigning for years for a pension increase, citing the rising cost of living. O’Brien told the Dáil in March last year that the pension schemes operated in the CIÉ group had a deficit of about €371 million and that the scheme actuary did not believe that a pension rise was affordable.Chief executive of the CIÉ group Stephen Kent told The Irish Times in an interview in March that if the pension arrangements had continued unchanged, estimated liabilities could have reached €4 billion in the next 10 years.“Now that is clearly unaffordable. That is an existential threat.“We have a scheme open to defined benefits and that is completely at odds to what’s happening in the rest of the semi-State sector. Secondly, at the moment here, the group has just over 13,000 employees. If you take the last year alone, across the group – largely because of all of the expansion – nearly 700 people have joined. But the more the company continues to expand, the more you continue to expose yourself to potential risks.”