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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 3 Jun 1987

Vol. 373 No. 2

Written Answers. - Old Age Pension Payments.

68.

asked the Minister for Social Welfare his policy on direct payment of old age pensions to accounts held by elderly persons in banks or post offices; and his views on suggestions from An Post which would facilitate such a development.

The Department have a policy of developing more modern payment facilities using the most up-to-date computer systems. The possibility of providing pensioners with the option of having their pensions paid directly into post office or bank accounts has been under active consideration for some time. Development work is still in progress and preliminary discussions have been held with An Post and the banks.

The result of surveys carried out by the Department suggest however that only a small percentage of pensioners are interested in having their pensions paid directly into a post office or bank account. Accordingly, for the foreseeable future, the vast bulk of payments to pensioners will continue to be made by means of books of orders cashable at post offices. As a first priority, therefore, it has been decided to concentrate the Department's computer resources on developing a computerised pension and allowance book-printing system. This system is being introduced on a phased basis from July 1987 and will provide greatly improved security features for pension order and other books. It will also make the administrative system for handling these books much more cost-effective.

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