asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will now adjust Irish social welfare pensions to recipients of British pensions in view of the drop in the value of sterling.

The rates of non-contributory pensions payable to persons who are in receipt of British pensions are reviewed annually when these pensions are increased. These increases usually take place each November and the currency exchange rate used in making any adjustments is that supplied by the EEC for social security purposes for the final quarter of the year.

More frequent reassessments to reflect every variation in foreign exchange rates would not be feasible. However, because an assessment stands for a year pensioners may benefit as well as lose from fluctuations in exchange rates. The existing procedures for the annual means assessments, therefore, do take account, as far as practicable, of fluctuations in exchange rates and do ensure that overall there is no loss to the pensioners as a result of these fluctuations.

What rate of exchange is used when converting from the £ sterling to the IR£?

To give three recent examples: for the quarter ending December 1980 the exchange rate for 1981 was 1.0; for the quarter ending December 1981 for the year 1982 it was 1.253 and for the quarter ending December 1982 for 1983, which is the current rate, it was 1.242 or 1.248 to be exact.

I take it that the exchange rate for this year will be 1.242. The exchange rate at present of .9 gives the value of the £ sterling at IR£1.12. There was traditional emigration to Britain in my constituency. Consequently, people are in receipt of pensions from Britain.

A question, Deputy, please.

Is the Minister deducting 1.242 from every £1 which he receives from the UK while recipients are only in receipt of £1.12 when they change their cheques?

The Deputy must ask a question.

I am sure the Ceann Comhairle's constituents have the same problem.

The Deputy must ask a question.

Is the Minister prepared to reduce this to 1.12 or if not is he prepared to adjust the supplementary pension?

I readily accept the point made by the Deputy. By the end of December the value of sterling was 1.15 and it was 1.13 at the end of January. During that period we were using the EEC rate which was supplied to us three months ahead of December. We have been using a rate of 1.24. With the method we used, which is a year end currency exchange rate, there are built-in safeguards which have a certain evening out effect. If we were to employ any other method such as quarterly or half-yearly reassessment, the administration in my Department would have to neglect other areas, for example, new pension claims and work done in insurability cases. We have a conversion once per annum and pensioners get the benefit.

A final supplementary.

We have reached only four questions in 20 minutes and that is ridiculous.

This is of vital importance to the people in my constituency. Does the Minister realise that this is February and that if we use this rate until December people in receipt of these pensions will be less well off? Is the Minister more worried about the administration costs in his Department than he is about the less well-off sections in Donegal?

I am trying to be helpful to the Deputy. If he would supply me with some sample cases I would be prepared to have a look at the system to see if a better method could be devised. For example, we might use the currency exchange rates supplied by the Central Bank in January or use the figures supplied by the EEC for each quarter for all reinvestigations or new investigations. I would be pleased to discuss the matter with the Deputy.

I appreciate that and I will give the Minister some examples.

5.