David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As stated in the reply, the Minister said it would take a number of months. Some 34,000 people have been written to and he is anxious that they would respond, if they have not done so already. Where a pensioner is awarded an increase, it will be backdated to 30 March 2018 or the person's 66th birthday, if later than that, and arrears will be paid, which is important.

Following the Government decision in 2018, work began on the significant system changes and legislative requirements to cater for new measures. A system change was delivered in November 2018 and January 2019, in time for reviews to commence from 13 February 2019. Reviews began the day after the Minister signed the necessary regulations, which together with the provisions in the Social Welfare Pensions and Registration Act 2018 allowed the increase in payments to be made. In September 2018, work began on identifying people to be reviewed and examining social insurance records of those born on or after 1 September 1946 who have a reduced contributory pension element. Because of this work, not all of those reviewed will need to provide additional information, which makes the process as easy as possible.

The Minister said that the first payments would be made in the first quarter of 2019. This has been achieved and work on reviews will continue until all the reviews that have been completed over the coming months.