Vol. 505 No. 7
90 Mr. P. Carey asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the plans, if any, he has to amend the social welfare legislation to take account of the situation where contributions paid in the year of reaching the age of 66 are not taken into account when establishing the rate of entitlement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14644/99]
The issue referred to by the Deputy arises under the qualifying contribution conditions governing the old age (contributory) pension scheme. These require that a person must have entered insurance at least ten years before pension age; at least 156 contributions paid or, if the yearly average is between ten and 19, at least 260 paid; and a yearly average of at least ten contributions – or 24 in the case of a retirement pension – registered since January 1953, when the unified system of social insurance came into effect, or the time they commenced insurable employment, if later, up to the end of the last complete contribution year before reaching pension age.
The contribution year is directly aligned to the tax year – that is, from 6 April to the following 5 April. As the Deputy points out, while contributions paid in the year of the person's 66th birthday may not be used in the calculations for the yearly average test, they may, if necessary, be included to satisfy the second qualifying condition outlined above.
My Department is, at present, undertaking a review of the qualifying conditions generally applying to the old age (contributory) and retirement pension schemes and I will consider this issue further in the light of the outcome of this review.
