There are almost 107,000 pensioners receiving an Irish non-contributory old age, blind or survivor's pension. Of these, some 10,577, 10%, also receive a British retirement pension. These contributory British pensions are paid directly to the people concerned by the UK Department of Social Security and not through my Department.
These Irish pensions are means-tested and entitlement is affected by changes in pensioners' means, including the value of their British pensions. Entitlement is reviewed periodically to take account of increases in the British pensions and allowance is made, at this stage, for the effects of changes in the exchange rate since the previous review.
The latest review of entitlement in these cases was completed some months ago. In the event that a currency fluctuation or some other factor gives rise to a reduction in a pensioner's means, it is open to him or her to have his or her entitlement reviewed by writing to my Department indicating the circumstances giving rise to the request. Sterling appreciated fairly significantly in the past two to three years against the ECU and, therefore, against the Irish punt. This increased the value of British pensions to Irish-resident clients. More recently, this favourable sterling exchange rate has remained broadly stable at those higher levels against the euro. The current relatively stable exchange rate would not of itself warrant further systematic reviews of BRPs. Any future review work on these cases, taking account of UK budget rates increases on British retirement pensions themselves, will take into account the exchange rate then prevailing.