Written answers

Tuesday, 13 December 2016

Department of Social Protection

Pensions Data

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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313. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons in receipt of a secondary UK state pension as notified to his Department by the UK's Department for Work and Pensions in each of the years 2013 to 2016 to date; the number of persons here in receipt of a US social security pension, as notified by US authorities in each of the years 2013 to 2016 to date; and the number of persons in receipt of pensions from other EU/EEA states as notified to his Department in each of the years 2013 to 2016 to date, by country, in tabular form. [39775/16]

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The information requested is not available as my Department is not notified of the number of recipients of a secondary pension from the United Kingdom by the Department of Work and Pensions; nor is it notified of the number of recipients of a pension from other EU/EEA states. As a result of the bilateral social security agreement with the United States, the US authorities provide an annual summary of all US benefits paid to residents in Ireland. However, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of the number of beneficiaries of a US social security pension from this data. The following table shows the number of persons in receipt of US benefits as notified by the US authorities to my Department in December of each of the years 2013, 2014 and 2015:

YearTotal number of beneficiaries of US Benefits paid to residents in Ireland
201310,025
201410,127
201510,194

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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314. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of meetings his staff have held in each of the years 2013 to 2016 with staff of the Revenue Commissioners specifically to discuss the issue of non-disclosure of foreign pensions here. [39776/16]

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department and the Revenue Commissioners have an ongoing relationship around the provision of services to the public and to secure the respective welfare and revenue systems against fraud. Arrangements between the two bodies, including the exchange of customer information and joint anti-fraud operations, are overseen by a High Level Group of officials drawn from both organisations which meets on average 4-5 times per year.

There have been no discussions on the issue of the non-disclosure of foreign pensions.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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315. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons that are in receipt of pensions from other EU/EEA states as notified to his Department in each of the years 2013 to 2016 to date, by country, and who are also in receipt of a non-contributory pension from his Department, in tabular form. [39777/16]

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The only data formally notified to the Department by another EU/EAA State on this matter is from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) in the United Kingdom. Since 2014, DWP sends the Department a complete list each year of the people residing in the State who are in receipt of a British Retirement Pension. This list is then matched against the Department’s records to identify those who are in receipt of an Irish State pension non-contributory.

The following table sets out, for each year since 2014, the number of such cases notified to the Department and the total number of those still in receipt of State pension non-contributory at end-November 2016.

YearCases notifiedStill in payment at end November, 2016
201610,25010,119
201510,1329,241
20149,3827,838

Comments

.BrianJM
Posted on 15 Dec 2016 3:49 pm (Report this comment)

>Seems a bit contradictory!
i.e. DWP does and does not supply information.


Quote:
Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

[[The only data formally notified to the Department by another EU/EAA State on this matter is from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) in the United Kingdom. Since 2014, DWP sends the Department a complete list each year of the people residing in the State who are in receipt of a British Retirement Pension.]]

~but a little earlier~

quote:
Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

[[The information requested is not available as my Department is not notified of the number of recipients of a secondary pension from the United Kingdom by the Department of Work and Pensions; nor is it notified of the number of recipients of a pension from other EU/EEA states.]]

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