Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 February 2015
184. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the mechanism in place to exclude a period of time when a person was forced to live outside the EU due to the lack of employment here from contribution averaging for the purposes of a State pension; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5720/15]
View answerThe State pension contributory is a very valuable benefit and is the bedrock of the Irish pension system. Therefore, it is important to ensure that those qualifying have made a sustained contribution to the Social Insurance Fund over their working lives. To ensure that the individual can maximise their entitlement to a State pension, all contributions paid over their working life from when they first enter insurable employment until pension age are taken into account when assessing their entitlement and the level of that entitlement.
To qualify for a state pension (contributory) a person must:
- have at least 520 paid contributions, and
- satisfy a yearly average condition (a yearly average of 48 contributions paid or credited is required for a full rate State pension (contributory), and reduced rates of payment may be payable for pensioners with lower averages).
Once over 16 years of age, the date a person enters into insurable employment is the date used for averaging purposes.
Where an applicant has also been insurably employed in another EU Member State, or in a country with which Ireland has a bilateral social security agreement, their insured periods in those countries may be combined with their Irish insurance to assess their entitlement to a pro-rata State pension (contributory). In addition to the general provisions under EU legislation (which apply to all EU Member States, EEA state Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, and to Switzerland), Ireland has bilateral agreements with the UK which also cover the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, USA, Australia, Canada, Quebec (which has a separate system from the rest of Canada), New Zealand, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.
EU legislation and bilateral agreements provide that comparative pension assessments (for standard-rate State pension contributory under Irish legislation alone, and for pro-rata State pension contributory under EU or bilateral agreement provisions) be undertaken, and whichever is the most financially beneficial pension entitlement for that pensioner is awarded to them.
