Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 144: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the fact that in the context of the appreciation of the Euro against sterling whereby people who are in receipt of their pensions here from the UK are suffering a significant drop in income due to the said appreciation; if there is a way for the recipient receiving additional income to compensate for the said loss in view of the fact that they are on fixed incomes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12668/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is aware of the appreciation in the exchange rate of the Euro against Sterling and uses the conversion mechanism provided for under Article 107 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 574/72 on Social Security for Migrant Workers when assessing means deriving from payments received from EU Member States (including U.K.) which do not form part of the EMU currencies. The exchange rates for converting Sterling and other non-EMU currencies are published quarterly in the Official Journal of the European Union. Under this mechanism the conversion rate used for means testing purposes is derived from the average of the daily exchange rates in the first month of a quarter. This rate is then used in all conversions during the course of the succeeding quarter. Alternatively the conversion rate applicable to the next succeeding quarter is used if it is more beneficial to the customer.

Currently there are approximately 8,900 customers of the State Pension (Non Contributory) scheme who are also in receipt of a British Retirement Pension. My Department does not generally review these pensioners specifically because of movements in the exchange rate. However it is open to any pensioner who believes they may be entitled to an increase in the rate of their State Pension (Non Contributory) payment to seek to have their means reviewed. It should be noted that changes to the value of a British pension due to currency fluctuation may well be offset by annual increases to the rate of British pension that have yet to be included in the assessment and consequently the customer's State Pension (Non Contributory) payment may be unchanged or reduced as a result of a review.