Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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69. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the estimated number of persons who retired across the public sector over the past five years to date, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62225/21]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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70. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the estimated number of persons who are due to retire across the public sector over the next five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62226/21]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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71. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of persons who have entered retirement from the public service over the past five years to date, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62228/21]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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72. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the estimated number of persons who are due to retire across the public sector over the next five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62229/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 69 to 72, inclusive, together.

The authorities responsible for the administration of the large number of pension schemes operating in the various sectors of the Irish public service are, in general, the relevant employers and Ministers in those sectors.

It would be a matter for those sectoral authorities, including relevant Ministers, to supply such information as may be available in respect of the number of retirees in each year to those individual pension schemes.

I and my Department are responsible for the civil service pension schemes, which cover personnel in established and unestablished civil service and State Industrial posts.

We would not be in a position to provide figures for 2021 until such time as the full year has elapsed and the Appropriation Account for 2021 has been audited.

There has been 7,535 retirements from the civil service from 2016 to 2020 inclusive. The retirements are broken out by year in the table below.

Regarding expected civil service retirements over the next 5 years, it is difficult to predict the level of retirements in future years because civil servants can choose to retire in any year having reached minimum retirement age. This was increased to age 70 under the Public Service Superannuation (Age of Retirement) Act 2018. As such, there is more certainty in the projections when the cumulative number of retirements over a period is considered.

Accordingly, the projected cumulative number of retirements from the Civil Service over the period 2022 to 2026 is approximately 8,500.This is a projection not a forecast which should be reviewed in light of updated data as and when available.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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73. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the details of the non-financial or pension supports and resources available to those preparing for retirement and currently employed in the public service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62230/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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OneLearning has responsibility for the provision of the Pre-Retirement Planning Programme for the Civil Service. OneLearning is the Civil Service Learning and Development (L&D) Centre, which is based in my Department.

OneLearning runs Pre-Retirement Planning Programmes on a regular basis, which are open to all civil servants who are preparing for retirement within twelve to eighteen months.

The Programme provides civil servants with a comprehensive overview of the wide-ranging changes associated with retirement and advice on pre-retirement planning. Some of the topics covered on the Programme include:

- Social Engagement

- Civil Service Pensions

- Finance and Money

- Taxation

- Legal

- Health and Lifestyle

In addition, the Civil Service Employee Assistance Service (CSEAS) provides both practical support and emotional one to one sessional support to all civil servants who are preparing for retirement.

Arrangements for pre-retirement planning for public servants in other parts of the public service (e.g. Health Sector or Local Authorities) are a matter for the relevant sector.