Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 196: To ask the Minister for Finance if the maximum pension a person can receive in respect of employment in the public service was capped at €60,000, €75,000 and €100,000 per annum, the amount which would be saved on an annual basis if this applied to all pensions in the public service, or just to all pensions granted from this year forward; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11287/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister for Finance has statutory responsibility for civil service pensions and for pensions paid from the Central Fund. Statutory responsibility for other public service pension schemes is a matter in the first instance for the respective Ministers in other Departments, as appropriate.

The data below relate to the civil service. I will provide appropriate pensions data for the Central Fund separately to the Deputy as soon as possible.

It should be noted that there is no provision in the civil service superannuation schemes to cap civil service pensions as referred to below. Having said that, based on the current number of civil service pensioners, the amount which potentially would be saved on an annual basis, if the maximum pension a person could receive in respect of reckonable service was capped at €60,000 would be about €7.7m; at €75,000, it would be about €3.7m; and at €100,000, it would be about €1.3m.

The potential savings from the caps referred to above in the future would be affected by the numbers retiring in the different bands of pension payments.