Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

It is still under discussion. This Bill will have a big impact on military pension arrangements. For example, the current retirement age is 40 but this is being raised under this legislation. The purpose of this section is to enable the Minister for Defence, with the agreement of the Minister for Finance, to make a scheme for the purpose of granting superannuation benefits to new entrant members and todetermine their pension terms from 1 April 2004.

This is a standard enabling provision. The pensions commission recommended a minimum age of 50 for Permanent Defence Force personnel in the design of a new pension scheme for new entrants. Existing pension arrangements relate to length of service rather than age and they do not include the concept of a minimum pension age, so there will be changes, but, again, the scheme has yet to be finalised by the Minister. He is drawing on the recommendations of the pensions commission in his discussions with the representative bodies.