John Connor
Ceist:15 Mr. Connor asked the Minister for Social Welfare his position in relation to reducing the qualifying age for non-contributory old age pension to 65 years of age; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
It is estimated that the cost of reducing the pension age from 66 to 65 would be in the region of £25 million to £30 million per annum and this would have to be considered in a budgetary context. If such a change were to be made it would have to include both contributory and non-contributory pensions.
The National Pensions Board in its final report Developing the National Pension System has recommended that a standard qualifying age of 65 for retirement and old age pensions should be introduced. However they regarded it as a low priority having regard to the cost involved and in the context of the other recommendations in the report.
The report and the recommendations are being studied within my Department and I intend to bring forward proposals on the issues addressed in the report.
Paul Bradford
Ceist:19 Mr. Bradford asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason a person who applied for deserted wife's benefit was refused on the grounds that there are no qualifying children; his views on whether this is just; and if he proposes to rectify the situation.
Social welfare legislation requires that, in order to qualify for a deserted wife's benefit a number of conditions must be fulfilled. One of these is that if a woman is under 40 she must have a child dependant or dependants. This condition has applied since the introduction of deserted wife's benefit in 1973 on the basis that a woman under 40 with no child dependents would not have the same needs as those in the same position with children. The condition is designed to ensure that resources are targeted at those most in need.
A woman who does not qualify for a deserted wife's benefit payment may qualify for other social welfare payments such as unemployment benefit, unemployment assistance or supplementary welfare allowance subject to the normal qualifying criteria.
People who are not entitled to deserted wife's benefit under Irish legislation but who have worked in a number of European Union member states may have insurance in another member state taken into account under EU regulations on social security for migrant workers in order to qualify them for benefit.
It has recently been decided that deserted wife's benefit is a family benefit under those regulations and that, as a consequence, social insurance contributions in another member state may be taken into account in determining entitlement to deserted wife's benefit in certain circumstances. Family benefits as a general rule apply only where there are family dependants.
Arising from the decision that desterted wife's benefit is covered by the European Union regulations a number of difficult issues have been raised concerning the precise effect of this, including the application of the decision in cases where there are no dependent children. These issues are being considered at present and as soon as they have been resolved I will be in touch with the Deputy in the matter.