Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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589. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the date a tender was published (details supplied); the name of the body which has been appointed to carry out the review; and the likely date of publication of the review. [20230/17]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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590. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if he will consider the appointment of a qualified actuary at assistant secretary level to his Department to advise both his Department and the Government on pensions and related issues. [20231/17]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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592. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his views on the creation of a State actuary's office reporting to the Houses of the Oireachtas similar in format to the Comptroller and Auditor General's role or that of the UK Government's actuary's department to provide independent information and analysis. [20233/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 589, 590 and 592 together.

The Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005 makes provision for the carrying out of actuarial reviews of the Social Insurance Fund at five yearly intervals. Each five-yearly review must be completed within 5 years of the completion of the previous review and a copy of the report is to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas within 6 months of the completion of each Review.

The first Actuarial Review was completed in 2002 (with an effective date of 2000). The fourth Actuarial Review, as at 31 December 2015, is currently being undertaken by KPMG. The request for tender was published on the 31^stof October 2016. Four tenders were received and after an evaluation of all tenders received, KPMG was appointed to undertake the review.

It is expected that the Actuarial Review as at 31 December 2015 will be published and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas by mid-August 2017.

In terms of my Department’s requirements for actuarial support, the legal requirement to carry out an Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance Fund which arises at 5 yearly intervals, and other issues which arise including those related to pensions, have been satisfactorily met by the appointment of external independent actuaries. In addition, the Department has access to the dedicated actuarial resources in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, with which the Department consults on a regular basis. I therefore do not intend to make a specific appointment within my Department to meet the Department’s actuarial needs.

The creation of a State actuary’s office reporting to the Houses of the Oireachtas, is, in the first instance, a matter for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, under the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act, 2003.The provision of such a dedicated actuarial service would have to be take account the demands for such a service and the necessity to provide funding for such a service.