Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 195: To ask the Minister for Finance, further to Parliamentary Question No 146 of 26 May 2010, if he is now in a position to provide the short and long-term savings to the Exchequer under the scenarios set out in the question [37119/10]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 196: To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No 147 of 26 May 2010, if he is now in a position to provide the savings to the Exchequer under the scenarios set out in the question. [37120/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 195 and 196 together.

The questions raised by the Deputy relate to the estimated savings to the Exchequer if both the Standard Fund Threshold (that is the maximum capital value of pension benefits that an individual can draw upon in their lifetime from tax-relieved pension arrangements) and the maximum lifetime limit for the tax-free retirement lump sum were reduced to various specified levels.

There is currently no underlying data available to my Department or to the Revenue Commissioners on which to base reliable estimates of the savings across the various scenarios outlined by the Deputy. Information on the numbers and values of individual pension funds are not required to be supplied by the administrators of pension schemes and personal pension arrangements. There would be particular difficulties with relevant data in the case of Defined Benefit pension schemes where there are no separate pension pots for individual scheme members. Likewise, information on tax-free retirement lump sum payments is not required to be provided by pension administrators.

My Department is liaising with the pensions industry with a view to establishing whether a potential basis exists for arriving at reliable figures and my Department will revert to the Deputy in the matter as soon as possible.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 197: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will set out information available to him on the value of pension pot size at each quartile for those reaching retirement in each of the past ten years [37121/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I do not have the information requested by the Deputy. Information on the value of pension funds of individuals on retirement is not required to be returned by the administrators of pension schemes to my Department or to the Revenue Commissioners.