Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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178. To ask the Minister for Defence if a person (details supplied) in County Kildare is in receipt of their proper payments; if the deductions as determined by his Department are correct; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5197/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The person concerned is in receipt of a Defence Forces retirement pension from my Department, and I am advised that he getting his full statutory entitlements in that regard. His pension is liable to income tax and the universal social charge on the same basis as applies generally. These are statutory deductions from his pension based on specific instructions as issued periodically to my Department by the Revenue Commissioners. If the person concerned has any queries in that regard he is advised to contact his regional Revenue office directly, the address of which is shown on his Tax Credit Certificate or on any correspondence received from Revenue. His pension is also subject to the Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR) measure. This came into effect on 1 January 2011 in accordance with the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) Act 2010, as amended, as part of the programme of measures to urgently address the serious state of the public finances. Under that legislation, the public service pensions of retired public servants such as the person concerned are liable to the PSPR reduction; however, the first €12,000 of their gross pension is exempt. The PSPR is a tiered reduction, which is progressively more for those with higher rates of pension. The amount of the PSPR decrease depends essentially on the person’s date of retirement and their gross annual rate of pension. In this person’s specific case, the amount of his gross annual pension above the €12,000 exemption threshold is liable to a PSPR reduction of 6%, which works out at an actual reduction of €7.12 a month. Income tax and USC are only then applied, as appropriate, to his pension after the PSPR deduction. Details of the various deductions are shown on the monthly pension payslip of the person in question.