Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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It is important to note that the State Pension age was never 65 years of age. The State Pension (Contributory) and State Pension (Non-Contributory) were never paid at 65 years of age.

The State Pension (Transition) was a payment available to those aged 65 and who were retired from employment. It was not available to self-employed workers and so many manual workers could not qualify. The contributions requirements for the Transition Pension were also more onerous than for the State Pension with claimants required to have a minimum yearly average of 24 social insurance contributions, in contrast to the minimum average of 10 that is required for the State Pension (Contributory). The Social Welfare & Pensions Act 2011 provided for the State Pension (Transition) to be to be discontinued from 1 January 2014.

The State Pension (Transition) scheme does not exist anymore. While it would be possible to estimate the potential cost of reintroducing the State Pension (Transition) on the exact same legislative basis as it previously existed (which included specific rate-band structures and a Yearly Average method of payment calculation), it would not be possible to reintroduce it on that basis because of the changes in how the State Pension (Contributory) is now calculated. It is further proposed that the yearly average method be phased out of the calculations related to the State Pension (Contributory) from 2025 onwards.

Therefore, introducing such a scheme would require significant design changes to the previous State Pension (Transition) to modernise it in line with the Total Contributions Approach method of payment calculation and the availability of HomeCaring Periods. As no such design work has been done, it is not possible to estimate the cost as requested.

The estimated cost of reducing the State Pension age to 65 for everybody would be in the region of €370 million for one year only at 2024 rates. In light of changing demographics, this cost would grow exponentially in the years ahead.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.