Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 31 May 2017
173. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of women throughout the country that do not qualify for a contributory pension due to the marriage ban which forced them to retire from work particularly in the public service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26243/17]
View answerThe ‘marriage bar’ describes a rule that existed in most of the public service and some private sector employments, where women were required to leave their employment upon marriage. This practice was abolished in 1973 when Ireland joined the EEC. As employees in the public service generally paid a reduced rate of PRSI, which provided no cover for the State pension (contributory), the marriage bar would not generally have impacted on State pension entitlement, as they would not have qualified for that payment in the first place had they remained in public sector employment.
To qualify for a state pension (contributory) a person must satisfy a number of criteria. One of these is that they have at least 520 paid contributions (i.e. 10 years). However this of itself does not qualify someone for a full rate contributory pension. As with such pensions in other countries, there is a separate criterion to decide the rate of payment for those who do qualify.
For those who have insufficient contributions to qualify for a full State pension (contributory), there are supports available in the overall State pension system which assist some pensioners in qualification for a contributory payment. For those who do not qualify for a full rate contributory pension, they may qualify for a means-tested non-contributory pension of up to 95% of the full contributory pension.
There are no statistics available to my Department detailing the numbers of public servants who were required by the Marriage Bar to leave the Public Service, and who didn’t then take up employment in the private sector. Such statistics would include people who have not paid PRSI for many decades, and who in many cases would not have made a claim under the State pension system. The Deputy will understand that if, for example, someone was in the public service up to 1972 or earlier, then left the workforce altogether, and now is dependent upon their spouse who has a public service pension, they will not generally receive a payment from my Department, and so the data required by the Deputy is not held by my Department.
Any questions regarding the number of public servants affected by the Marriage bar would be a matter for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
