Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 62 and 63, 73, 80, 90 and 91 and 93 together.

I thank Deputy Heydon and all of the other Deputies who submitted questions on this matter. On 23 January last the Government agreed to my proposal that would allow pensioners affected by the 2012 changes in rate bands to have their pension entitlement calculated on a total contributions basis, including a provision for up to 20 years of a new home caring credit. Legislation will have to be enacted to enable the implementation of these arrangements and a number of options regarding the best approach to passing that legislation are being considered. In addition, a new information technology system must be developed in line with the legislation. My Department is currently working on both of these projects and both are at a very advanced stage. We must then design the procedures with which we will work. We are currently recruiting some temporary staff who will conduct the reviews. Once recruitment is completed, we will start carrying out the reviews.

My Department will write to the 67,000 impacted customers in the next number of weeks to explain to them what is happening and how the review process will work. As I have stated previously, it is still planned to commence these reviews before the end of this year, with the first payments being made in the first quarter of 2019, backdated, where relevant, to the end of March 2018, or later where a person attained his or her 66th birthday after that date. I wish to reassure people that it is not necessary for them to contact the Department on this matter. Once the legislation is enacted and the systems and processes are ready, my Department will write again to the people impacted and provide them with the opportunity to have their pension recalculated. Once they are presented with the recalculation, they will then have the option of continuing on their old pension payment or moving to a new pension payment. I have been asked on a number of occasions if there will be winners and losers in this recalculation process, as has happened on different occasions in the past but I can absolutely assure Deputies and those listening that there will be no losers. Those whose pension entitlements are recalculated and are found to be smaller than their current payment will obviously choose to stay on the current payment. That said, the anticipated outcome of the process is that the majority of the 67,000 people who were adversely affected will be positively impacted by the recalculation and will be moved to a new, higher payment.

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