Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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324. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the cost of the State pension in 2015; the number of recipients at year end; the total number of beneficiaries, that is, counting qualified adults; if he will provide a breakdown of these figures by State pension contributory recipients and by State pension non-contributory recipients; and the projected equivalent figures in 2016, 2020, 2025 and 2030. [36345/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The following table provides the data requested by the deputy for 2015 and 2016:

Beneficiaries at end December 2015

Beneficiaries at end December 2016

The number of recipients of the State Pension Contributory has been increasing by around 15,000 each year over the last few years while the number of State Pension (Non-Contributory), recipients has been relatively stable over the same period.

The main driver of the increase in pension related expenditure is attributable to the ageing of the population. Social welfare legislation provides that actuarial reviews must be completed five years after the completion of the last review and that a copy of each review be laid before each House of the Oireachtas. The last review (The Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance Fund, 2010) was carried out by KPMG on behalf of the Department and was published in 2012. This review projected (as part of its base case assumptions) that the number of persons aged 65 and over in the population would increase from 514,000 in 2010 to 750,000 in 2020 (and increase of nearly 46%) before rising again to 1,034,000 in 2030 (a further increase of nearly 38%). The published actuarial review does not include data on the numbers of pensioners on a scheme by scheme basis. However, this data will be included in the next review which is imminent.

In this regard, the Department has issued a Request for Tender to carry out a new Actuarial Review and this will be completed by end June 2017. This review will provide more up to date projections of Social Insurance Fund expenditure and income in the coming years based on up to the most up to date demographic and economic data as well as the impact of social protection changes since the last review was completed.