Vol. 491 No. 6
218 Mr. Power asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of people in receipt of the contributory old age pension and the non-contributory old age pension; and the total cost of these to date. [13108/98]
219 Mr. Power asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the total cost to the Exchequer, in one full year, if the old age pension was to be increased to £100 per week. [13109/98]
It is proposed to take Questions Nos. 218 and 219 together.
The information requested by the Deputy regarding the number of people in receipt of old age pensions and expenditure on these pensions is contained in the following Table 1.
This Government, in its action programme, is committed to increasing the maximum personal rate of old age contributory and retirement pensions to £100 per week over a five year period. Significant progress towards achieving this aim was made in the 1998 budget which provided for a special increase of £5 per week in the maximum personal rates of payments for pensioners aged 66 and over. Payment of these increases comes into effect this week. These increases, which are significantly ahead of inflation, will apply not only to people receiving old age (contributory and non-contributory) and retirement pensions but also to people over 66 in receipt of widow's and widower's pensions, blind pensions, carer's allowances and people over 65 in receipt of invalidity pensions.
The estimated cost of further increasing the maximum rate of old age (contributory) pension and retirement pension to £100 per week along with appropriate increases in other pension rates is shown in Table 2.
Table 1
|
Year |
Pension |
Recipients |
Expenditure |
|
£000 |
|||
|
1994 |
Old Age Contributory Pension |
70,820 |
314,996 |
|
Retirement Pension |
62,211 |
256,130 |
|
|
Old Age Non-Contributory Pension |
108,301 |
319,076 |
|
|
1995 |
Old Age Contributory Pension |
69,179 |
316,911 |
|
Retirement Pension |
65,761 |
280,293 |
|
|
Old Age Non-Contributory Pension |
102,984 |
308,749 |
|
|
1996 |
Old Age Contributory Pension |
67,988 |
320,253 |
|
Retirement Pension |
69,740 |
305,677 |
|
|
Old Age Non-Contributory Pension |
101,624 |
310,294 |
|
|
1997 |
Old Age Contributory Pension |
70,022 |
325,008 |
|
Retirement Pension |
71,793 |
336,194 |
|
|
Old Age Non-Contributory Pension |
98,835 |
316,795 |
|
|
1998* |
Old Age Contributory Pension |
70,415 |
357,100 |
|
Retirement Pension |
72,584 |
364,000 |
|
|
Old Age Non-Contributory Pension |
98,103 |
336,900 |
|
£000 |
|
|
Old Age Contributory Pension |
56,820 |
|
Retirement Pension |
63,990 |
|
Old Age (Non-Contributory) Pension |
86,370 |
|
Total |
207,180** |
220 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs whether he can confirm the eligibility of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 5 for disability benefit in view of the substantial evidence submitted that PRSI was deducted by her employer from January 1995 to April 1997 but was not handed over to his Department. [12679/98]
The person concerned claimed disability benefit for the periods 23 April 1997 to 19 May 1997, 29 May 1997 to 30 June 1997 and 25 November 1997 to 21 April 1998. To qualify for payment in respect of those periods, she required at least 39 reckonable PRSI contributions paid or credited on her behalf in the contributions years 1995-6 and 1996-7 which governed the claims in question. According to the records of my Department, she has no reckonable contributions paid or credited in 1995-6 and only 21 reckonable contributions paid in 1996-7.
The person concerned has stated that she was employed from January 1995 to April 1997 with the same employer. Investigations to date reveal conflicting evidence in relation to the employment in question from the person concerned and from the employer. The person concerned has recently furnished further evidence in support of her case and this is being investigated by my Department as a matter of urgency.
The eligibility of the person concerned will be determined in the light of this investigation.
