Vol. 562 No. 2
154 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the position in relation to recipients who are in receipt of both the scheme for early retirement from farming and the survivors pension from the Department of Social and Family Affairs when they reach the age of 66 years; if they can continue to receive both pensions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5865/03]
Following an approach to the European Commission in 2001 it was agreed that widows and widowers pensions – formerly called survivor's Pensions – should not be regarded as national retirement pensions until the recipient reached the normal retirement age of 66 years. Once these pensioners reach the age of 66, however, the amount of their early retirement pension must be reduced by the amount of widows or widowers pensions that they receive.
It is a requirement of the European Council regulations governing both the 1994 and 2000 schemes of early retirement that the early retirement pension may only be granted as a supplement to any national retirement pension that the participant, and his or her spouse/partner in a joint management arrangement, may receive. This means that the amount of any national retirement pension payable must be deducted from the early retirement pension.
