Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 February 2013
429. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection in respect to an application for State contributory pension, if further investigation can be undertaken into the credit history in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; if she will provide details of the exact contributions, year by year in this instance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5319/13]
View answerTo be eligible for a state pension (contributory) from age 66, a person must:
- have entered insurable employment before reaching age 56
- have at least 520 paid contribution weeks since entry into insurance, from employment or self-employment
- have a yearly average of 48 paid/credited contributions from 1979 to the end of the last complete tax year prior to their 66th birthday, or
- have a yearly average of at least 10 paid and/or credited contributions recorded from 1953 or from his/her date of entry into insurable employment or self-employment (whichever is the later) to the end of the tax year preceding their 66th birthday.
The person concerned reached pension age, 66, on 7 April 2012. According to the records of the Department, she has a total of 303 full-rate paid contributions and 26 credited contributions from 1971 to 2012. She does not therefore satisfy the minimum paid contributions condition. Additionally, her overall record yields a yearly average of 8 only, which is insufficient to satisfy the qualifying conditions for State pension (contributory). Accordingly her pension claim was disallowed and she was notified of this decision on 18 June 2012.
A social welfare inspector is currently investigating the employment of the person concerned from September 1968 to November 1970. The Department has no contributions recorded for this period. On completion of this investigation, if it is considered that additional contributions should be allocated to the person’s insurance record, her entitlement to the State pension (contributory) will be re-examined. However, it is unlikely that an additional three years’ contributions will be sufficient to enable the person concerned to qualify for a State pension (contributory). The person concerned has been advised that if she has had any additional insurable employment period(s) in Ireland not already notified that she wishes to bring to the Department’s attention, these will also be considered.
