Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 November 2004
335 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will examine the circumstances of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 11 as a typical example of inadequate welfare support for welfare dependent persons in their early sixties; and the actions he intends to take to address this face of Irish poverty. [27122/04]
View answerThe person concerned, who is 64 years of age, is currently in receipt of a widower's contributory pension at the rate of €134.30, based on a yearly insurance average of 32. In addition he is in receipt of a national fuel allowance of €12.90 per week. The fuel allowance is paid from October to April each year. The person concerned is also in receipt of a travel pass. He does not qualify for electricity allowance or telephone allowance as he does not reside alone or with an excepted person. A bereavement grant of €635 and a widowed parent grant of €2,500 was paid to him following the death of his spouse.
The current rates structure, comprising an under 66 and over 66 rate, reflects the fact that age 66 is the standard qualifying age for old age pension purposes. The question of increases in the rates of payment will be a matter for consideration in a budgetary context.
Subject to certain conditions, the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on behalf of this Department by the health boards, provides assistance to eligible people whose means are insufficient to meet their basic needs. Assistance may be given in the form of supplements which may be paid in respect of rent, mortgage interest or special dietary or heating needs. The scheme also provides for exceptional needs payments to help meet essential, once-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of his or her weekly income.
The social welfare provisions available to widows and widowers are kept under ongoing review. Any enhancements are considered in a budgetary context, subject to availability of resources.
336 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the rationale for articles 57 and 58 of SI 312 of 96 in relation to disability benefit credits; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that this will work against a sick person who has returned home from abroad after many years with no reckonable contributions paid or credited; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27126/04]
View answerSection 57 of the regulations in question provides that where, for any two complete consecutive social insurance contribution years, there are no employment contributions paid or credited in respect of an insured person, a contribution cannot be credited to such person until a further 26 employment contributions have been paid in respect of him or her.
Section 58 provides that employment contributions shall be credited to an insured person in respect of days of incapacity for work, of proved unemployment and on receipt of certain social welfare benefits.
The reason for this limitation on the award of credited contributions relates to the general principle in the social insurance system that there should be a reasonable link between entitlement to benefit and a recent participation in the active labour force. This reflects the contributory principle and the "pay as you go" nature of the social insurance system in Ireland.
Awarding credited contributions to where there is no recent record of insurable employment would undermine the basis of this system and have serious implications for qualification for benefits and expenditure from the social insurance fund.
Special arrangements are in place to protect the accumulated social security rights of persons who travel between European Economic area, EEA, countries. Furthermore, the regulations governing social insurance contribution records make special arrangements to accommodate volunteer development workers.
Also there are a number of bilateral agreements with some non-EEA countries to safeguard the accumulated rights to certain social welfare benefits of persons who spend time in these countries. However, this might not extend to short-term benefits such as disability benefit.
If an individual does not have a sufficient number of contributions to qualify for an insurance based benefit such as disability benefit, he or she may subject to a means test be able to qualify for disability allowance and further details in relation to this can be obtained from my Department.
337 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason a person’s yearly average contributions rather than total contributions is used to determine eligibility for contributory old age pension; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27127/04]
View answerThe basic qualifying conditions for the old age (contributory) pension date from the introduction of the pension in 1961, though they have been eased considerably in recent years to make qualifying easier.
The average contributions test was intended to ensure that those qualifying for pension had made an adequate contribution to the social insurance fund while at the same time minimising the impact of gaps in insurance on the pension a person received.
In 2000, the Department published a review of the qualifying conditions for the old age contributory and retirement pension, phase 1, and this proposed that consideration be given to changing the basis of assessment to one based on total contributions paid or credited.
A change in the contribution conditions to one based on total contributions would have significant financial and other implications for entitlements under the system. These issues are being addressed in the second phase of the review. The report of that review is at an advanced stage of preparation and it is hoped to finalise it in the coming months.
