The Deputy will be aware that I dealt with this matter in reply to Parliamentary Question No. 23 on 22 February 1996. In addition I should point out that in order to qualify for the old age contributory pension, a person must have entered insurance at least ten years before pension age. This condition has been a feature of the scheme since its introduction in 1961. The purpose of the condition is to link entitlement to a pension with a reasonable level of contributions to the social insurance fund during the course of a person's career. This condition applies to self employed persons in the same way as it applies to all insured people. Accordingly, self employed people, who became insured for the first time when social insurance was extended to the self employed in 1988 and who were then aged 56 or over would not qualify for the old age contributory pension. They are, of course covered for survivor's and orphan's pensions.
The 53 per cent of contributions referred to by the Deputy can be refunded in the circumstances outlined in my reply of 22 February 1996.
Provision has been made for the payment of interest on refunds of contributions due after 1 November 1990. The rate of interest is equal to the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for each full calendar year after the date the contributions have been made.
The 47 per cent of the contributions referred to by the Deputy are for the survivor's and orphan's pensions and are not gifts to the Exchequer.
The whole question of pro-rata pensions falls to be considered in both the context of the recommendations contained in the final report of the National Pensions Board —“Developing the National Pension System” taking account of the overall future financing of pensions.
