Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In answer to Deputy Byrne's question, the pension payroll is not operated by the payroll shared service. Funding is provided from two subheads covering the pension and gratuity costs of former IOT staff. The number of IOT staff retiring fluctuates from year to year and the scale of these fluctuations is not possible to precisely predict. The fact that these persons are not employees of my Department but of 13 IOTs, and are paid on those bodies' payrolls, adds to the complexity of the estimating process within my Department. The average costs of the gratuities, that is lump sums, fluctuates throughout the year as staff of differing service and grade levels retire. The 2016 allocation allows for the payment of 145 gratuities to newly retired employees of the IOTs, at the current average gratuity rates. However my Department now anticipates that the number of gratuities payable to the new retired IOT employees will be 204, an extra 59. Accordingly, a supplementary allocation of €11 million is being sought from the IOT subheads. The supplementary allocation will allow for the payment of an additional 59 gratuities to retired IOT employees at current average rates and associated increases in the cost of servicing the ongoing pension payroll. This will increase the overall cost of these subheads from the €65 million originally provided to €74 million.

I will get more detail for the Deputy as to what exactly the breakdown of the extra money is.