Bernard Allen
Question:69 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he proposes to introduce measures to recognise the special role of women working in the home.
Written Answers. - Pensions for Women at Home.
The provision of pensions for women working in the home is one of my priority objectives in the pensions area. In 1988 I brought farmers and the self-employed into the social insurance system and their dependents have entitlement, for the first time this year, to widow's and orphan's pensions. I further extended the social insurance system in 1991 to cover 27,000 part-time workers, mostly women, and these now have protection in their own right when they retire.
The only significant remaining group without the protection of the social security pensions in their own right are women working in the home. Following the receipt of the report of the National Pension Board I plan to bring forward proposals to deal with the specific pension needs of women in the home.