John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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664. To ask the Minister for Health if he will consider correspondence (details supplied) in relation to a retired nurse; if the supplementary pension being sought in the case outlined will be paid as a matter of urgency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24366/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The issues raised in the correspondence provided by the Deputy relate to PRSI cover as well as supplementary pensions.

In relation to PRSI class, the Government decided in 1995 that full social welfare cover should be extended to all newly appointed Civil and Public servants and that they should pay the full Class A social insurance contribution. The change was introduced by the Department of Social Protection under the Social Welfare (Modification of Insurance) (Amendment) Regulations 1995 (S.I. No. 77/1995), as amended.

This Regulation also provided that where a person, who had previously served in the civil or public service and paid modified insurance, had a break in service they would become Class A Social Insurance contributors.

Where a person is fully insured under the Social Welfare regulations their occupational pension is generally integrated with the State Pension i.e. when calculating the pension payable to an individual account is taken of any social welfare benefits to which an individual has an entitlement.

Supplementary pension is one particular aspect of integrated pensions which arise when a bridging payment is required to provide for an individual's overall public service pension entitlement because there can be a shortfall in this benefit in certain circumstances e.g. when a person, due to causes outside his/her control, fails to qualify for social insurance benefit or qualifies for such benefit at less than the maximum personal rate. However, these payments are not automatic and are subject to specific rules.

These integration arrangements and the rules for the payment of a supplementary pension have always existed for fully insured public servants. Similar rules for integrated pension schemes apply across the public service. In the HSE Employee Superannuation Scheme (SI 362 of 2010) the rules are set out at 9.5 of the Scheme.