Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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95. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide in tabular form details of former public representatives in receipt of State pension related to their duties as public representatives; the amounts per annum involved for each person; if these figures are pre or post tax; if he will indicate where any recipient has returned or waived any of the pension sums due; if the amounts in question have dropped since this Government took office and if so, by how much in each case; if he has further plans to reduce the State’s spend in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15801/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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As advised to the Deputy the information requested will take sometime to collate and will be forward to the Deputy's office by Tuesday the 8th of April.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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96. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide in tabular form details of former senior civil servants in receipt of State pension(s) related to their duties as civil servants with a total value of over €100,000; the amounts per annum involved for each person; if these figures are pre or post tax; if he will indicate where any recipient has returned or waived any of the pension sums due; if the amounts in question have dropped since this Government took office and if so, by how much in each case; if he has further plans to reduce the State’s spend in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15802/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2010 provided for the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR).  The PSPR, commencing 1 January 2011, imposed significant reductions on public service pensions in payment, using a progressively tiered set of bands and rates with a top rate of 12% on any public service pension amount over €60,000.

The legislation was amended  to increase the top rate of PSPR  from 12% to 20% on the portion of any public service pension amount in excess of  €100,000. Initially the PSPR was imposed separately on each public service pension where more than 1 pension was payable.  However, following an amendment introduced in the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012, the PSPR  is imposed on the aggregated value of all public service pensions held by a person who has more than one such pension

Public service pay cuts under the FEMPI legislation, including those made by this Government, have impacted progressively so that higher earners have taken the hardest hit.  These pay cuts have been fully reflected in the pensions of persons who retired from 1 March 2012 onward.  The average pay cut imposed has been around 7%, but this extends to more than 20% for the highest earners, including a limited number of senior civil servants.

When account is taken of PSPR, a total of 35 former senior civil servants have been identified with a pension of €100,000 or more, see following table. This is out of a total of some 16,228 civil service  pensioners and a reduction of over 50% compared to the number (79) identified as in receipt of a pension in excess of €100,000 net of PSPR in 2011. As a matter of policy, waivers of pay or pension by serving or former public servants are not disclosed.