Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This issue is referred to as the loss of an additional increment by some military pensioners at the State pension age. This might be a technical answer to a technical question, but I will give it in any event. In the case of pre-April 2004 enlisted personnel, their basic 21-year Defence Forces pension is payable for life. An additional increment is payable on top of that basic pension for service of between 22 and 31 years, as the Deputy pointed out. Under the pension scheme rules, however, this increment ceases payment when the pensioner reaches the qualifying age for the social welfare contributory State pension, namely, between the ages of 66 and 68, depending on when the insured person was born. This is in accordance with the long-established principle of integrating occupational pensions with the social insurance benefits of employees who are in the full PRSI class, including non-commissioned officers, NCOs, and privates, who are fully insured for the range of social insurance benefits, such as the State pension, which are regarded as part of the person's overall pension package. The integration principle applies throughout the public and private sectors, as well as in other countries.

I will have to check as to whether it applies to the Garda, for example, but I could send my note to the Deputy. It contains a lot of backup information that I do not need to share with the committee. My understanding is that it does apply across other public sector areas as well.