Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We do not index link the State retirement pension but what we do is an annual review via the budgetary mechanism. What I would have to do in this case is go back to Government if a situation such as that described by Deputy O’Dea arose. Currently, the median pension is €11,000 and the floor of €12,000 is above that. I will undertake to go back to Government if that relationship changes over time. Perhaps I am being an optimist but what I hope is that the need for the restructuring we have experienced due to the fall-out of recent years will not arise as urgently, as we are sorting out pensions. I will go back to Government to undertake to revisit the floor of €12,000 but I do not particularly see that it is terribly relevant to include it in the legislation. I undertake to go back to Government because that would be a requirement. If after this period of restructuring and resettlement there was another crisis, I would assume one have to again look at medians. I hope that by then we would have a mandatory or auto-enrolment supplementary pension scheme in order that there would be other benchmarks to take into account as well. That is the way I would prefer to do it. I sympathise with the Deputy and understand what he is trying to achieve but it would be better done by returning to Government, as with an annual budget, to seek to review it in the context of the various data which affect pensions.