289. Deputy Sinéad Gibney asked the Minister for Defence whether she has engaged with the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitilisation on reinstating the supplementary pension for members of the Permanent Defence Forces; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57957/26]

The specific occupational pension schemes applicable to members of the Permanent Defence Force (PDF) depend primarily on the date a person first joins the public service, and fall mainly into the following three categories:

• those who joined before April 2004;

• those who joined on or after 1st April 2004 and before 1st January 2013; and

• those who join on or after 1st January 2013 as members of the Single Public Service Pension Scheme (the Single Scheme).

Supplementary pension arrangements have always existed for personnel who joined the PDF prior to 2013 and continue to operate today. Those arrangements were never halted or abolished so the question of "reinstating" does not arise.

The occupational pension scheme for post-1 January 2013 new entrants to the public service, including the PDF, is governed by the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012. All first-time new entrants to pensionable public service employment (including the PDF) on, or after, that date are members of the Single Scheme.

The Single Scheme is a key structural fiscal reform introduced to help significantly reduce the cost of public service pensions in the long term, while at the same time continuing to provide valuable pension benefits for employees. In the general context of that policy objective, the terms and rules of the Single Scheme, which are fundamentally different to previous superannuation public service arrangements, make no provision for the concept or award of supplementary pensions for any new entrants joining any public service group from 1 January 2013 onwards.

Notwithstanding the distinguishing features of the Single Scheme, members of the PDF in that Scheme retain the minimum pension age of 50 to reflect operational needs, as already applies to new entrant military personnel recruited since April 2004, and the Single Scheme also retains ‘fast accrual’ pension terms for uniformed groups such as the PDF.

In the round, pension schemes applicable to members of the PDF compare very favourably to the generality of pension arrangements applicable across our public service.

Under the 2012 Act, overall statutory responsibility for the Single Scheme pension terms and rules rests with my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Sector Reform and Digitalisation. Any amendments to the Single Scheme can only be made by consultation with, and subject to the approval of that Department, taking into the account the impacts on the wider public service pensions.