Vol. 561 No. 6
143 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the extent to which all contributions made during the working life of the contributor are calculable in determining pension entitlements; when all contributions will be included and payments made on foot thereof; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5123/03]
In order to qualify for an old age (contributory) pension a person must have paid at least 260 contributions at the appropriate rate, must have entered insurance ten years before he-she reached pension age and must have a yearly average of at least ten contributions paid or credited on their social insurance record from 1953 – when the unified system of social insurance came into effect – or the date of entry into insurance if later.
A yearly average of 48 contributions is required for a full rate pension with reduced pensions payable for those with yearly averages of between ten and 47 contributions. In the case of retirement pension a yearly average of 24 contributions is required for a minimum pension.
Provision is also made for the payment of pro rata pensions in cases where people have a mix of contributions from different classes on their record or insurance from other EU countries or countries with which Ireland has a bilateral agreement.
With two exceptions all contributions paid or credited, at the appropriate rate, on a person's record are assessed when their entitlement to a pension is being examined. Only contributions made under the unified social insurance scheme, introduced in 1953, can be used to satisfy the average contribution test and only contributions made up to the end of the last complete tax year before a person reaches pension age may be counted when eligibility for a pension is being considered.
In line with the Government's commitment to ensuring the widest possible coverage for old age contributory pensions, a special flat-rate old age (contributory) pension, payable at 50% of the maximum personal rate, was introduced from May 2000 for people with pre-53 social insurance contributions who, due to the yearly average rule, failed to qualify for a pension.
This is achieved by affording additional recognition to social insurance contributions paid prior to 1953. To qualify, a person must have paid at least 260 contributions which may comprise all pre-1953 contributions or a combination of pre and post 1953 insurance. Further developments in relation to qualifying conditions for pensions will be considered in the context of the phase 2 review of the qualifying conditions for the old age contributory and retirement pensions. The first phase report was published in 2000 and the second phase report is at an advanced stage of preparation and I expect to publish it in the next few months.
144 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the countries with which satisfactory arrangements exist or otherwise in respect of the countries with which Ireland has bilateral agreements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5124/03]
145 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the amount of time taken to process an application for entitlement where joint Irish and overseas contributions are involved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5125/03]
146 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason for the extraordinarily long delays with the processing of old age or other pension applications involving Irish and overseas contributions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5126/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 144 to 146, inclusive, together.
In addition to the EU member states, my Department has responsibility for bilateral social security agreements with seven countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the USA and Switzerland. Ireland also entered into a bilateral understanding with Quebec on 1 October 1994.
Pension applications based on a combination of Irish insurance contributions and contributions from another EU member state or a country with which Ireland has a bilateral agreement take longer than normal to process. In cases where employment contributions have been made outside of EU countries entitlement may have to be tested under more than one agreement. To ensure that customers receive their correct entitlement, decisions cannot be taken until all appropriate information is received. My Department is not experiencing difficulty with any one country at this point in time.
The time taken to process claims involving a combination of Irish contributions and contributions from other EU States or countries with which we have reciprocal agreements is not maintained separately. The section dealing with retirement and old age contributory pensions, which make up the bulk of EU pensions, has a backlog of cases at the present time which is resulting in delays in the processing of these claims. This is a direct result of the impact in the last two years of the high number of claims to the pre-53 pension from UK residents who do not qualify for the standard pension but who may have entitlement to a pro rata pension. In general, by far the largest number of cases involving EU pro rata pension entitlement are those with UK insurance.
My Department is actively working on clearing the backlog and on ways to help improve the time taken to process EU or bilateral applications. The position will be kept under review in the coming months.
