888. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the average pensionable years of service upon retirement, by gender of employees of the public service; the average annual public service pension currently in payment to employees, by gender; and if her Department has ever undertaken an assessment of gender pension gaps within the public sector. [56349/26]

My Department has responsibility for the civil service pension schemes, which cover members of established and unestablished civil service and state industrial schemes and would not extend to the wider public service.

The authorities responsible for the administration of the large number of pension schemes operating in the various sectors of the public service are, in general, the relevant employers and Ministers in those sectors.

It would be a matter for those sectoral authorities, including relevant Ministers, to supply such information as may be available in respect of the number of retirees in each year to those individual pension schemes.

The table below shows the average pensionable years of service upon retirement, by gender of employee of the Civil Service.

The table below shows the average annual civil service pension currently in payment, by gender.

While my Department examines gender pay issues, it has not undertaken a standalone assessment of gender pension gaps within the public sector. Public service pension scheme rules are gender neutral and do not differentiate between men and women in the calculation of pension benefits.

For members of pre-existing public service pension schemes, pension benefits are determined by length of reckonable service and final pensionable remuneration. For members of the Single Public Service Pension Scheme, pension benefits are based on career-average pensionable remuneration. Accordingly, all members' pensions are calculated using the same rules and methodology regardless of gender.

Any differences in pension outcomes that may arise between men and women are therefore more likely to reflect factors that occur over the course of an individual's working life, such as differences in earnings, career progression, working patterns, or length of service, rather than the operation of the pension schemes themselves. In this regard, the underlying drivers are more appropriately considered in the context of gender pay and workforce participation during employment rather than through a separate assessment of pension scheme design in retirement.