Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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174. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the current public sector pension contribution levels for both employee and employers here and in the UK, Northern Ireland, Germany and France; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2461/17]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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175. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the current age of first payment to public service pensioners here and in the UK, Northern Ireland, Germany and France; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2462/17]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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176. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the current level of lump sums paid to public service pensioners here and in the UK, Northern Ireland, Germany and France; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2463/17]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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177. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the current tax benefits provided for public sector contributions here and in the UK, Northern Ireland, Germany and France; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2464/17]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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178. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the minimum years of service required for full public sector pension here and in Northern Ireland, Germany and France; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2465/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 174 to 178, inclusive, together.

I understand there is a considerable diversity of pension provision and treatment of pensions under taxation provisions within the public sector in many countries and the detailed information sought by the Deputy in relation to public sector pensions in the UK, Northern Ireland, Germany and France is not available to my Department.

With regard to public service pension provision in Ireland in respect of the points raised in the Deputy's questions, I set out below the relevant pension terms applying to most public servants, defined as being those who qualify for normal paced accrual of benefits in mainstream areas, including the health sector, teaching, the civil service and local government.  The equivalent pension terms may differ somewhat in other sectors wherein "fast accrual" pension provision applies, including the An Garda Síochána, the Permanent Defence Force, the Irish Prison Service, firefighters, the judiciary and TDs.

For pre-1995 recruited public servants the employee or member contributions position varies across sectors. However, most public servants recruited since 1995, including Single Scheme members, are subject to the following occupational pension scheme contribution rates:

- 3% of pay, plus

- 3.5% of net pay (which is defined as pay minus twice the Contributory State Pension).

Irish public service pension schemes operate on an unfunded pay-as-you-go basis, being exempt from the funding standard requirements set down in Part IV of the Pensions Act 1990.  On that account public service schemes, with only minor exceptions, do not feature an explicit employer contribution.  They do however have a significant implicit employer contribution, insofar as the cost of taxpayer-financed benefit outgo, generally based on final salary, significantly exceeds member contributions. This implicit employer contribution is widely recognised as a valuable benefit in public service employment, including in the second report of the Public Service Benchmarking Body published in 2007, which is available at .

The minimum age at which normal-course pensions are paid in the Irish public service varies by reference to period of recruitment, as follows:

- 60 years for persons recruited up to 31 March 2004.

- 65 years for persons recruited between 1 April 2004 and 31 December 2012.

- 66 years, rising to 67 years in 2021 and 68 years in 2028, for persons recruited from 1 January 2013 onward: these persons are members of the Single Public Service Pension Scheme, which applies to new recruits across the public service since the beginning of 2013. The Single Scheme pension benefits are based on career-average pay, not retirement-time pay (final salary).

Retirement lump sum in almost all public service pension schemes, except the Single Scheme, is set at a maximum of one and a half times final pay.

In general, 40 years' service is required to qualify for maximum public service pension benefits.

Single Scheme members may accrue both pension and retirement lump sum over a longer period than 40 years. For most Single Scheme members, there are no legislated rules capping the level of pension and retirement lump sum that can be accrued; in practice however the Single Scheme's career-average design is a restraint on benefits build-up under those headings.

Responsibility for all aspects of taxation relating to pensions rests with my colleague the Minister for Finance.