Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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308. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if his Department has conducted an analysis of the cost of indexing increases in the State pension to the cost of living; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25887/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Social welfare legislation provides for the carrying out of an Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance Fund every 5 years. The fourth such Review is currently being undertaken by external consultants (KPMG) on behalf of my Department.

The Review will project the income and expenditure of the Fund over a 55 year period, taking into account policy, economic and demographic changes since the previous review was undertaken. In providing an assessment of the financial “health” of the SIF, the findings of the Review will contribute to the development of policy for social insurance benefits generally. To allow for comparisons between different options for indexing benefits, the Review will include projections based on various indexation approaches, one of which is indexation in line with price increases (CPI).

It is expected that the current Actuarial Review will be published in August of this year.