Vol. 546 No. 3
63 Mr. Sheehan asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the reason unemployed persons who receive lone parent allowances and widower's pensions are not included in credits contribution for contributory and retirement pension purposes in the years prior to them attaining the age of 65 years. [31587/01]
Under current statutory provisions governing the award of credited social insurance contributions – credits – lone parents who qualified for lone parents allowance or one parent family payment from October 1990 onwards may be awarded credits if they switched to that payment from another credit-bearing payment, for example, unemployment assistance.
As regards recipients of widow/er's contributory pension or non-contributory pension, the position is that credits are not awarded for periods of widowhood alone. However, a person who was in receipt of a credit bearing payment prior to qualifying for the widow/er's pension may continue to receive credits, provided she or he continues to satisfy the conditions of entitlement to the other payment, for example, by providing evidence of continuing illness or unemployment.
The value of credited contributions thus awarded depends on the benefits for which the last paid contribution was reckonable.
