Vol. 577 No. 5
216 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will consider allowing all pre-1953 social insurance contributions to be reckonable for pension purposes whereby this would give a person a more favourable pension rate, given that it is discriminatory to allow some pension applicants to reckon pre-1953 but deny this right to others. [31736/03]
The pre-1953 old age contributory pension was introduced in May 2000 to enable people with pre-1953 insurance who could not qualify for pension under normal qualifying conditions to receive a pension. Those who qualify receive a payment at 50% of the maximum rate. To be eligible a person needs 260 paid contributions at the appropriate rate, which can comprise a mixture of pre and post-1953 contributions. The appropriate rate in the case of pre-1953 contributions refers to contributions made under the National Health Insurance Acts. It is open to any person to apply for this special pension scheme.
