Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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130. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form, the number of persons affected by statutory retirement in the private sector, in each of the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41567/13]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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131. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form the number of persons who have received retirement planning services in each of the past five years; her views on whether retirement planning is beneficial; if she would like to see the number of persons planning retirement improving; her plans to achieve same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41568/13]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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132. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the support and or assistance her Department provides to both employers and employees, in both the public and private sector, who are approaching retirement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41569/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 130 to 132, inclusive, together.

It should be noted that there is no statutory compulsory retirement age for employees in Ireland. Responsibility for setting retirement age is a matter for the employer/employee relationship and the contract of employment. It should also be noted that individuals who are awarded a State pension contributory at age 66 can continue to work, whereas one of the qualifying conditions of State pension transition requires the person to be retired from work. The numbers in receipt of State pensions has been increasing significantly in line with demographic projections. This can be seen in the number of people qualifying for State pensions over the last five years as set out in the following table:

In relation to supports for employers and employees in the private and public sector, my Department’s website www.welfare.ie, provides comprehensive information on all the Department’s schemes and services as well as a range of online services which include online claiming for State pension contributory, household benefits, child benefit, jobseeker’s payments, widow(er)’s and surviving civil partner’s contributory pension and redundancy payments and insolvency payments.

The objective is to enable people to access services at a time and place that best suits their needs. The use of online application forms reduces the administrative burden for the customer and facilitates efficient processing of claims by the Department. Furthermore, my Department operates a network of some 125 social welfare local and branch offices throughout the country. Each local office has dedicated information officers providing information on all the Department’s schemes and services and who are available to assist with the completion of application forms where required.

The nationwide network of over 200 Citizens Information Centres also offers a drop-in service where callers can meet information providers face-to-face. Staff in these centres offer information, advice and advocacy to individuals on a wide range of public and social services, including the Social Welfare Appeals process. I am satisfied that assistance and support is available to customers in advance of retirement, and indeed at all times, through my Department’s offices and through the Citizens Information Centres. This enables them to access my Departments schemes and services in a timely and effective manner that best meets their needs.

The number of those retired from the public sector is a matter for the Minister for Public Service and Reform and I understand the Minister is responding directly to the Deputy in this regard. In relation to my own Department, the number of staff who have retired and the number who availed of pre-retirement courses over the past five years is shown in the following table.

In terms of support for staff retiring from my own Department, all staff within the Department who are nearing retirement are offered a three day pre-retirement training course for themselves and their spouses/partners, currently provided by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. In addition, estimates of retirement benefits are made available to staff on request. The training course deals with areas such as finance, pensions, legal matters, lifestyle, health, diet and other related topics which are presented by subject matter experts. The aim of the course is to provide assistance and specialised information to the retiree during this time of great change in their lives and help assist them to prepare for an active and enjoyable retirement.

Although not all staff avail of the option, the feedback received from those who do is very positive as it enables them to obtain important information, share ideas with other attendees and gives them a positive step in preparation for retirement. I am satisfied that any staff planning for retirement are offered the opportunity to avail of this service and that will continue to be the case.