I propose to take Questions Nos. 710 and 711 together.
The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht was established in June 2011 and pensions due to staff who have retired are paid by the Paymaster-General. As such pensions are not a charge on the Vote of my Department, it does not hold information in relation to such pensions.
The numbers of public service pensions paid by bodies operating under the aegis of my Department at the end of 2011 and at the end of each year since then are shown in the following table.
Year:
|
Number of pensions paid at 31 December
|
2011
|
259
|
2012
|
290
|
2013
|
305
|
2014
|
332
|
I am advised that the annual value of such pensions being paid as at 31 December 2014 was €6,528,415, giving an average annual pension of €19,664.