Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 100: To ask the Minister for Finance, further to Parliamentary Question No. 177 of 30 March 2010, and the legislation regarding having approved minimum retirement funds improperly sold to individuals treated as approved retirement funds; the criteria of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25940/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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In my reply to the previous question of 30 March 2010 referred to by the Deputy, I said that the Government is aware that individuals who invested some or all of their pension funds in an Approved Minimum Retirement Fund (AMRF) because they did not satisfy the specified income requirement at retirement, may later satisfy that condition. The Government has decided to allow those individuals who meet the specified income conditions after retirement to have their AMRFs treated as Approved Retirement Funds (ARFs) to which they will have access.

The issue being addressed relates to the fact that, under current legislation, individuals can be locked into the AMRF arrangement without access to the capital in their fund until age 75 despite the fact that, subsequent to retirement, they may be able to satisfy the specified income condition. This is not a question of AMRFs being improperly sold.

I also mentioned in my previous response that the details of this change will be worked out during the implementation phase of the National Pensions Framework and legislated for in due course. The position is that a Steering Group has been established to oversee the work of implementing the Framework which will take a period of three to five years to complete. However, the Framework includes a commitment to extend, from next year, the option to invest in an ARF to all members of Defined Contribution occupational pension schemes and I would consider that the matter which is the subject of the Deputy's question will be dealt with in the same legislation in 2011. The detail of the legislative change will be made known at that time.