Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In fairness, the committee identified that when it did its review of the Pensions Commission report where participation rates were ignored, that is, participation rates significantly improving on a incremental basis. An increase in ten percentage points over the next 30 years will make a dramatic difference on the potential SIF deficit. I had indicated to the Minister's Department that I was going to raise a follow-up issue to the one we raised regarding the Estimate here last November. This was the Estimate that was presented to us last November and what was concerning was a 7% increase in administration costs on the SIF. I know the Department has provided us with an explanation for that. The committee has sought the advice of the Parliamentary Budget Office which has produced a paper for us and which we shared with the Department. Late last night we got further clarification back from the Department. We have not had the opportunity to engage with the Parliamentary Budget Office on that. The context of this is that we see from the Estimate in front of us that the income earned from surplus is projected in 2024 to increase by 299% so it is important that we protect that surplus in the Social Insurance Fund. I raised concerns regarding the administration cost which seemed to be out of kilter.

Will the Minister elaborate on what was driving the additional administration costs within the Social Insurance Fund? It seems that medical costs have been a big issue in this and are a considerable element of the social insurance administration costs. We know there has been a rising spend on disability across the Department of Social Protection, and the Parliamentary Budget Office has flagged that with our committee as well. This is obviously leading to an increase in medical assessment costs. Will the Minister gives us an indication of what is happening regarding those increases and how big a demand or a pressure this is putting on those administration costs?

The second thing is that the calculation of pension entitlements has become far more complex as well. Traditionally, we had contributions domestically and probably from the United Kingdom, whereas today there can be a very mixed record contribution of both PRSI contributions in this country, social insurance contributions in other EU member states and outside the European Union in the United Kingdom as well, which adds to the complexity of the calculation.

Last week, the Minister signed a statutory instrument relating to the long-term carers credit which, again, will add to the complexity of that. We want to acknowledge the Minister's work in extending those credits to long-term carers. However, we are trying to get an indication or idea of what is actually driving the administration costs within the Social Insurance Fund. We know that 50% of those relate to staffing costs which is pretty much standard across the Department. Can the Minister provide us with some insight into what is driving this level of change?