The position at the moment is that the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2010 provides for an average Public Service Pension Reduction (PSPR), with effect from 1 January 2011 and estimated to save €100 million in a full year, of about 4% of pension in line with the following rates and bands:
Annual Public Service Pension (€)
|
Reduction Rate
|
First 12,000
|
0%
|
Between 12,000 and 24,000
|
6%
|
Between 24,000 and 60,000
|
9%
|
Balance above 60,000
|
12%
|
Under the legislation passed last year, the PSPR applies separately to each individual public service pension. This was done for practical and legal reasons, including because the paying authorities who calculate and pay the pension and the PSPR will not normally be aware of other public service pension benefits and one cannot aggregate for some and not others. This also applies to former Ministers and former Oireachtas members, who receive two pensions at present. I intend to allow public service-wide pension aggregation to address this.