Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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21. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the status of State pensions (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3479/16]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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On Budget Day, I was pleased to announce a €3 weekly rate increase for pensioners aged 66 and over, which represents the first increase in weekly rates in seven years. This increase applied to those on the maximum personal rate of payment e.g. the State Pension Contributory (SPC) rate increased from €230.30 to €233.30 per week, and the State Pension Non Contributory rate increased from €219 to €222 per week.

Proportionate increases applied for qualified adults and for those on reduced rates of pensions. In this regard, qualified adults on SPC aged 66 or over gain €2.70 per week (from €206.30 to €209 per week), while qualified adults aged under 66 in receipt of SPC or SPNC gain by €2 per week. The policy adopted in this regard is the long-standing practice for rate increases.

It should also be noted that the rate of the qualified adult payment payable where the qualified adult is aged 66 or over is equivalent to over 88% of the personal rate of payment or far higher than the proportion which apples to other qualified adult rates of payment (normally around 66%). In addition, all persons aged 66 and over (including those who are qualified adults) are eligible to apply for the means-tested State pension non-contributory and, depending on the means of the couple, may be eligible to receive a rate of this pension higher than the qualified adult weekly rate the State pension contributory.

Budget 2016 contained a number of other welfare measures of benefit to pensioners. A pensioner couple in receipt of the maximum rate of the State Pension Contributory would have received a 75% Christmas Bonus of €327.50 in the first week of December 2015. In addition, pensioners may also have benefited from the increase in Fuel Allowance from €20 to €22.50 per week for the duration of the fuel season.