Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 5 May 1999

Vol. 504 No. 2

Written Answers. - UN Year of the Elderly.

Cecilia Keaveney

Question:

252 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the new schemes or increased funding, if any, made to existing schemes to celebrate the year of the elderly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11415/99]

Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern):

The UN international year of older persons is a particularly important milestone in celebrating the contribution that older people have made to society in general. While primary responsibility for the year rests with my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, the principles of the UN year, based on independence, participation, care, self-fulfilment and dignity, are fully in accordance with this Government's programme of improvements in the social welfare code for older people.

One of the principal methods of improving the position of older people is through a strong social welfare pension, based on social insurance. In this regard, this Government is committed to an old age pension rate of £100 per week by 2002. Significant progress has been made towards achieving this objective through a total pension increase of £11 per week in the last two budgets. The Government will continue its work in this area.

Another commitment made prior to the 1997 general election was to address the issue of people who narrowly failed to qualify for a pension. I have recently introduced a special new pension for a very specific group of people; namely, self-employed people who were marginally excluded from entitlement to old age (contributory) pensions, as they could not satisfy the condition of having entered social insurance at least ten years before pension age by virtue of the fact that they were over 56 years of age when social insurance was extended to the self-employed in April 1988. The new pension will be payable, at 50 per cent of the standard maximum rate, to those people who now have at least five years' reckonable contributions paid since then. It is estimated that up to 8,000 pensioners and their 2,000 qualified adults will benefit from this measure at an estimated full year cost of £18 mill ion. I believe that this approach is both fair and just and am particularly pleased that this additional measure to help our older people has been introduced during the UN international year of older persons.

This year is an important one in the context of pensions generally. I have often stated my commitment to ensuring that contributory pension coverage is as widely available as possible. The Department is undertaking a detailed review of the contribution conditions applying to the old age (contributory) and retirement pensions. In addition, work on progressing the recommendations of the pensions board, as outlined in its report on the national pensions policy initiative, continues and I hope to publish a pensions Bill later this year or early in 2000.

In Budget '99, I demonstrated our commitment to improving the position of carers by announcing an £18 million package of improvements. I published a review of the carer's allowance last autumn and many of the recommendations contained in the review have already been addressed and are being progressed. Over 11,500 existing carers will benefit from the measures I have introduced while an additional 3,300 new carers will now qualify for a carer's allowance. This budget package, costing over £18 million, represents a 40 per cent increase on existing expenditure and is a very considerable addition to the £45 million spent on carers in 1998.

Earlier this month, I hosted, in conjunction with the European Commission, a conference on caring for older people at home – a strategy for social inclusion. Its theme was both timely and appropriate in this, the UN international year of older people. The conference provided an opportunity for cross-community exchanges on current policies and practices to determine those which best suited supporting older people in remaining active in their own homes and communities.

The measures and initiatives introduced to date clearly indicate my personal commitment and that of the Government to older people and the appreciation we must all have for their continuing, valuable role in our society.