Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 30: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the expected cost to the Exchequer arising from measures adopted in the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2009 to address problems affecting private pensions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23148/09]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 45: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the steps she is taking to improve pension security for members of defined benefit schemes in the private sector. [23294/09]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 52: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will provide the latest information on the number of pension schemes that currently fail the funding standard and the extent to which they fail. [23295/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 30, 45 and 52 together.

At the end of 2008, there were 1,351 defined benefit schemes subject to the funding standard. Current estimates suggest that approximately 90% of defined benefit pension schemes are in deficit. However, the full extent of the level of under-funding will not be fully apparent until all schemes carry out their next actuarial assessment and report the results to the Pensions Board.

The Government is conscious of the pressures on both sponsoring employers and pension scheme trustees, arising from the significant losses incurred by pension funds over the last 18 months. We are anxious to ensure, in so far as we can, that those involved have sufficient time and space to fully assess the implications of the current difficulties for their schemes and the remedial action they can take. Indeed, this was the thinking behind the recent implementation of a number of measures to ease the pressures being felt by many pension funds. Those measures included the granting of extra time for schemes to formulate funding proposals and allowing longer periods for recovery plans.

Furthermore, changes to the Pensions Act 1990 were introduced by the 2009 Social Welfare and Pensions Act which allowed for the restructuring of underfunded schemes; to ensure a more equitable distribution of assets in the event of the wind-up of a defined benefit scheme and to strengthen the powers of the Pensions Board in ensuring that pension contributions deducted from wages and salaries are remitted by employers to scheme trustees. These changes will not have any cost implications for the exchequer.

As the Deputies are aware, I also introduced, on behalf of the Minister for Finance, the Pensions Insolvency Payments Scheme (PIPS) to reduce the cost of purchasing pension payments, by trustees of pension schemes in deficit, where the employer has become insolvent. Although the operation of the PIPS is the responsibility of the Minister for Finance, the scheme will be established on a cost-neutral basis.