Vol. 508 No. 4
66 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his views in relation to the recent budget submission of the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament that contributory and non-contributory pensions should be set at a rate of at least 34 per cent of average industrial earnings and that this should increase to at least 40 per cent in three consecutive budgets. [18888/99]
75 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the timescale over which he will increase the old age pension to £150 per week; the plans, if any, he has to increase the adult dependant rate of this payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18871/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 66 and 75 together.
As stated in An Action Programme for the Millennium, this Government is firmly committed to the achievement of an old age pension rate of £100 per week by 2002. An important step towards achieving this objective was taken in last year's budget which delivered increases of £6.00 per week in all personal pension rates – well above the average inflation rate and, when taken together with the improvements in the previous year's budget, represent an increase of £11 per week since this Government came into office.
From June last the weekly rate of the old age contributory and retirement pension represents 124 per cent of the main rate recommended by the commission on social welfare, while the maximum rate of the old age non-contributory pension is 109 per cent of the commission's recommended rate.
The pensions board, in its report Securing Retirement Income, recommended that social welfare pensions should be increased in line with prices at a minimum and, ideally, in line with earnings, and that it would be desirable to aim, over a five to ten year period, to increase social welfare pensions to 34 per cent of average industrial earnings. The Irish Senior Citizens' Parliament makes a similar recommendation in its pre-budget submission.
The Government has noted the recommendations of the board and the senior citizens' parliament in this regard and considers that the question of further increases in the rates of social welfare pensions and the PRSI financing implications of these will be examined in the context of the overall budgetary situation and economic climate.
In relation to the rate of payment for qualified adults, the Commission on Social Welfare recommended that the appropriate level at which the qualified adult allowance should be paid was 60 per cent of the personal rate. Recent research undertaken on behalf of the working group examining the treatment of married co-habiting and one-parent households under the tax and social welfare systems would suggest 70 per cent as a more appropriate level.
The question of increasing the QAA rate to this level will be considered in a budgetary context.
