Vol. 404 No. 5
35 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Social Welfare if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there are many Irish people who worked in England in the 1940s and 1950s and who had insurance contributions deducted from their pay may now be entitled to retirement or contributory pensions without them having any knowledge of this fact; and if he will consider a short publicity campaign to advise such people of their entitlements.
People who may be entitled to benefit or a pension from another State of the European Community are usually identified through the details which they give about their working careers when they apply for an old age or retirement pension from my Department. Specific questions about working in any other member state are asked on application forms for these pensions and the importance of the information is explained in the information leaflets for the schemes.
I will arrange for my Department to take up the matter with the United Kingdom authorities who have responsibility for the payment of pensions to Irish people who worked in the United Kingdom to see if the present arrangements for seeking out potential beneficiaries can be improved.
A publicity campaign as suggested by the Deputy may very well be useful in identifying further cases where a person is entitled to benefit, particularly in cases where there is no entitlement to a pension from my Department.
A review of the publicity arrangements in relation to benefits for Irish people arising out of European Community membership and/or bilateral agreements is due to start shortly in my Department. The Deputy's suggestion will be examined further in that context.
