445 Mr. M. Moynihan asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs when progress will be made on the issue of extending the pro-rata pension to offer full pro rata pensions to persons who have paid six, seven, eight and nine years of contributions. [11585/01]
One of the commitments made prior to the 1997 general election was to address the issue of people who narrowly failed to qualify for a pension, including self-employed people who were already over 56 years in 1988 when compulsory social insurance was introduced for this group. These could not qualify for a pension because they could not satisfy the basic conditions required for pension purposes, particularly the requirement to have entered insurance ten years before pension age.
A special old age contributory pension was introduced in April 1999 for self-employed people who were aged 56 or over in April 1988 and who have at least five years' contributions paid since then. Payment is at a flat rate of 50% of the standard maximum rate with equivalent increases for adult and child dependants, where applicable.
The special arrangement introduced in April 1999 represents a positive and reasonable response to the situation in which this particular group of people found themselves and there are no plans at present to make further changes.
