Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 December 2025
84. Deputy Tom Brabazon asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation his plans to review the provisions of the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012. [70815/25]
View answerI would like to thank the Deputy for his question.
The Single Scheme is a statutory Public Service Career-Average Defined Benefit Pension Scheme. It was established under the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012.
The provisions of the Single Scheme are clearly set out in law. All new-entrant public servants hired after 1 January 2013 are members of the Single Scheme.
The introduction of the Single Scheme is the biggest change to public pensions since the formation of the State. It has been instrumental in ensuring the sustainability of the Public Service pension bill for decades to come. This is particularly key in the context of rising public service employee numbers.
While career-averaging pension schemes are common across the public and private sectors, Defined Benefit schemes are no longer common in the private sector, where Defined Contributions schemes are more frequent. It is generally agreed that Defined Benefit schemes are more beneficial for employees. This is due to the fixed nature of benefits, an attractive feature of the Single Scheme.
There are no plans at this time to review the Single Scheme.
