As the Deputy may be aware, only around 1% of public service pensioners are in receipt of a pension in excess of €60,000 and only a few hundred have a pension in excess of €100,000. The average public service pension is estimated at around €25,000 and many of these pensioners do not have any entitlement to the social welfare pension. I would add that there would be legal issues arising from a proposal to introduce a 99% reduction for pensions above a certain level. The changes in rates and bands proposed by the Deputy would save approximately €10 million gross in a full year.
Threshold
|
Band
|
First 12,000
|
0%
|
Between 12,000 and 24,000
|
6%
|
Between 24,001 and 60,000
|
9%
|
Between 60,001 and 80,000
|
20%
|
Between 80,001 and 100,000
|
50%
|
Above 100,000
|
99%
|