Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 26 Nov 1997

Vol. 483 No. 4

Written Answers. - Pension Provisions.

Noel Ahern

Ceist:

128 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will give details of the budget increase in old age (contributory) full pension for each of the past five years; and the gross overall cost of the increase for each of these years. [20748/97]

Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

The information requested by the Deputy is contained in table 1.

Table 1. Old Age (Contributory) Pension Increases (1993-1997)

Year	Maximum Rate	Budgetary Increase	Full Year Cost*
	£	£	£m
1993	68.90	2.30	8.6
1994	71.00	2.10	7.6
1995	72.80	1.80	6.3
1996	75.00	2.20	7.6
1997	78.00	3.00	10.2

*The figure quoted includes the cost of increasing both the full rate and the reduced rate old age (contributory) pensions. Approximately 66 per cent is incurred by full rate pension payments.

Table 2 shows the number recipients of the old age contributory pension broken down between those who receive the full rate and those who are on a reduced rate pension. The decrease in the number of recipients of the OACP is offset by the increase in the numbers of recipients of the retirement pension, which are shown in table 3.

Table 2. Recipients of the Old Age (Contributory) Pension.

Year	Maximum Rate	Reduced Rate	Total
	£	£	£
1993	47,583	24,512	72,095
1994	46,788	24,141	70,929
1995	45,420	23,845	69,265
1996	44,066	23,976	68,042
1997	41,553	24,928	66,481

Table 3. Recipients of the Retirement Pension

Year	Maximum Rate	Reduced Rate	Total
1993	39,775	17,979	57,754
1994	43,546	17,948	61,494
1995	47,340	17,929	65,269
1996	50,710	18,315	69,025
1997	54,115	18,505	72,620