Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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61. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to increase the State pension (contributory) and the State pension (non-contributory); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7623/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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State pensions account for the single largest block of social welfare expenditure, and while expenditure on pensions is increasing because of demographic pressures, this is being successfully managed within the overall welfare budget. This year, the Department of Social Protection will spend an estimated €6.675 billion on pensions – 34.4% of all welfare expenditure and an increase of €168 million over 2014.

In Budget 2015, the Government increased payments for certain pensioners by increasing the rate of the Living Alone Allowance in Budget 2015 to €9.00. This increases the maximum personal rate of the State non-contributory pension for a qualified person living alone to €228 per week, and the maximum rate for the State contributory pension to €239.30, when both the basic pension and the allowance are taken into account.

In addition I was pleased to restore a partial Christmas bonus last December, benefitting over 575,000 pensioners, at a cost of over €31 million, and 1.23 million welfare recipients in total.

As with these changes, any future decision to increase the rate of the State pension would have budgetary consequences and would have to be considered in the context of budget negotiations.