The marriage bar is a term used to describe a rule that existed in most of the public service and some private sector employments, whereby women were expected to leave their employment upon marriage. The bar was abolished in 1973.
Where such employees were in the public service, they paid a modified rate of PRSI. These contributions provided no cover for the State pension and, accordingly, the marriage bar would not have impacted on State pension entitlement. It may, however, have impacted upon their eventual entitlement to a Public Service pension which is a matter for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.
The homemaker’s scheme was introduced in 1994 to make qualification for State pension contributory (SPC) easier for those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties. The scheme allows up to 20 years spent caring for children under 12 years of age, or caring for incapacitated people, to be disregarded when a person’s social insurance record is being calculated for pension purposes. The effect of this is to reduce the number of years by which the person’s contributions are divided, thereby increasing their yearly average, making it easier for them to qualify for the maximum rate of SPC. However, it is important to note that the homemaker’s scheme will not, of itself, qualify a person for a pension. The standard qualifying conditions must also be satisfied. These require a person to enter insurable employment at least ten years before pension age, pay a minimum of 520 contributions at the appropriate rate (credited contributions do not satisfy this condition) and achieve a yearly average of at least 10 contributions paid or credited on their record. A yearly average of 48 or more is required to qualify for a maximum rate SPC.
It is not the case that someone with at least 10 years (520 weeks) of reckonable contributions, paid after an earlier period working in the public service, would be denied a State pension because of that earlier employment. Such pensioners would still have a yearly average above the 10 contributions required to qualify for the SPC. It is probable, however, that they would have a reduced rate of SPC entitlement, as a result of the years during their working life when they were not making full-rate PRSI contributions, and it may be that they would qualify for a higher rate of payment under an alternative scheme, unless they had significant means.
For those with insufficient contributions to meet the requirements for a maximum rate State pension (contributory), they may qualify for a means tested State pension (non-contributory) which has a maximum personal rate of €219, or just over 95% of the maximum rate of the contributory pension. Alternatively, if a person’s spouse or civil partner is in receipt of a SPC, they may instead qualify for an Increase for a Qualified Adult of up to €206.30, which is just less than 90% of the maximum personal rate of the SPC.
