James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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163. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if payment of an early retirement sum is available to deferred pensioners within the Civil Service pension scheme who have left employment in the service prior to reaching early retirement age but have a deferred entitlement (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43584/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Cost Neutral Early Retirement (CNER) is a facility which allows qualifying officers who wish to retire up to ten years before preserved (or minimum) retirement age to apply to receive immediate payment of lump sum and pension, as an alternative to preserved benefits. The lump sum and pension are reduced to make them the equivalent, in actuarial terms, of preserved benefits. Departments/Offices must consider applications for CNER in light of their business needs.

Applications for CNER cannot be made once the person has left their employment. In this case, because the individual concerned left the Civil Service in 1998, they are not eligible to avail of CNER. They will, of course, be eligible to claim payment of preserved pension benefits when they reach the minimum pension age of 60. There is no provision in the Civil Service Pension Scheme for early payment of the retirement lump sum.

More information on Cost Neutral Early Retirement can be found in the relevant Circular on my Department's website: