Seán Haughey
Ceist:83 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Finance the reason the Civil Service pension of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 9 was substantially reduced from 29 October 1993; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Civil Service Pension Entitlement.
The person in question was a member of the non-contributory pension scheme for non-established State employees. As members of this scheme are normally entitled to the full range of social welfare benefits, the scheme is structured so as to ensure that the sum of (a) the scheme pension; and (b) the person's social welfare entitlement is equal to the pension payable to a person with no social welfare entitlement. Accordingly, if (as in this case) a person retires before social welfare pension age, the initial pension awarded under the scheme is usually greater than that payable if the person had attained pension age. However when the person concerned reaches social welfare pension age, and secures a higher social welfare entitlement, an appropriate adjustment is made in the scheme pension to take account of the higher rate of social welfare payment.
The above procedure was applied in this case, but it has now come to light that the actual rate of the social welfare payment to the person concerned differs from the figure used in adjusting the scheme pension. The correct adjustment will be applied to the pension as soon as the Department of Social Welfare confirms the correct figure.