Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide an update on the amount of income that has been generated from the 20% levy placed on public service pensions in excess of €100,000; if he will provide details of the number of former Ministers and former Office Holders affected by this levy; and the if he will make a statement on the matter. [42450/12]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I assume the Deputy is referring to the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR). The PSPR is an income–graduated reduction applied to each gross annual public service pension in excess of €12,000. It came into effect on 1 January 2011 as part of the then Government’s programme of measures to urgently address the serious position of the public finances.

In January of this year I introduced a new 20% PSPR rate on pension amounts above €100,000 (before then a 12% rate had applied on all pension amounts above €60,000). The change was made by section 9 of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Amendment) Act 2011, which amended section 2 of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2010.

The new rate is estimated to realize an additional €400,000 savings in a full year. Pensioner groups affected include former Office–holders (Presidents, Taoiseach, Ministers), former Chief Justices, Supreme Court and High Court Judges, former Civil Service Secretaries General, former Chief Executives of non-commercial state bodies, etc.

The details of former Ministers and former Office Holders affected by this levy will take some take to collate and will be provided to the Deputy as soon as possible.