Plans to allow cohabitating – including gay – public servants to pass on their public-service pensions to their partners have been shelved for the time being by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan.

First mooted more than four years ago as part of a number of changes to 'gilt-edged' public-service pensions, the plan has been waiting for approval by the finance minister for the last 18 months.

However, last week a Department of Finance spokesman said that while the plan is still "under consideration" it is now likely to be included in the government's green paper on pension reform which covers private, public and social-welfare pension issues.

Given the time it has taken to get even a green paper out on pension reform, it will be some time before such a radical reform as providing public-service pensions for same-sex couples will be introduced. The dwindling state of the exchequer finances and the soaring cost of public-service pensions, which now stands at over €2bn a year, is also understood to have been a factor.

Currently, a public-service pension can only be passed on to a public servant's spouse and/or children of a marriage.

Last year, in a bid to recoup the extra cost to the exchequer, Finance proposed increasing the pension contribution from 1.5% to 2% for those public servants who wanted to join the scheme.

While welcoming the
proposal, the Gay and
Lesbian network said at the time the increase in
pension contributions
could be considered discriminatory against gay people.