'They are waiting for Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe (pictured) and Communications Minister Eamon Ryan’s approval'

Ministers have been urged to urgently rubberstamp pension hikes due to more than 7,000 former An Post workers.

Seán McDonagh, general secretary of the Communications Workers’ Union, claimed they had been treated in a “tawdry way” following a long delay to sign off the increases.

The union said 5pc had been due since January 1 last year, 2pc since January 1 this year and another 1pc since July 1 last.

It said the Labour Court, An Post pension board of trustees, and An Post’s board of management had approved the payments.

They are waiting for Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe and Communications Minister Eamon Ryan’s approval. The CWU says the average An Post pension after 40 years’ service is €320 a week.

“It is unacceptable that An Post pensioners, who are getting on in years and on fixed incomes, have been left waiting for nearly nine months for the pension increases they are due,” the CWU’s Mr McDonagh said.

He said the treatment of the pensioners threatened industrial relations at An Post.

“This persisting delay and – as a consequence – the tawdry way in which An Post pensioners are being treated is putting at risk the ongoing co-operation of the An Post group of unions with the company’s transformation agenda,” he said.

A spokesperson at Mr Donohoe’s Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said the official procedure meant the Environment Minister must first approve any consent request before seeking the consent of the expenditure minister.

“No such consent request for a pension increase has been received by this department,” said the spokesperson.

A spokesperson for the Department of Environment said consideration of the consent requests was well advanced.

“The matter is now being expedited in consultation with the company,” he said.

He said An Post must seek ministerial approval to increase pensions and deferred pensions for members of the An Post pension scheme.

The spokesperson said such requests required the views of the New Economy and Recovery Authority, NewERA, which is part of the National Treasury Management Agency. A business case was also required, and the requests should be submitted well in advance, he said.

He said it should be recognised that the time taken for the pension approval process was necessary to ensure that robust governance procedures were in place.

“Following receipt of the requests from An Post, there were queries which required further follow-up with the company,” he said.

“There is a shared responsibility for the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, and NewERA in processing any such consent requests,” he added.

He said a report had been submitted by NewERA and the “standard process” for approval was being followed.

Meanwhile, the CWU has called for an emergency meeting of the An Post board to direct management to immediately pay the increases.

It has written to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Micheál Martin asking them to “unblock” ministerial approval.