Vol. 502 No. 2
95 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will report on the anomaly which exists whereby pre-1953 contributions are not eligible for consideration for contributory old age pensions; the proposals, if any, he has to remedy the situation; and the numbers of people who are in this category. [7460/99]
To qualify for the old age (contributory) pension, a person must (i) have entered insurance at least 10 years before pension age; (ii) have at least 156 contributions paid; and (iii) have a yearly average of at least 20 contributions (or 24 in the case of a retirement pension) registered since January 1953 (when the unified system of social insurance came into effect), or the time they commenced insurable employment, if later.
This yearly average condition was further reduced to ten contributions for the new pro-rata old age (contributory) pension which came into effect from 21 November 1997.
The purpose of these qualifying conditions 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.
Prior to 1953, three different types of contributions were payable – national health insurance, widow's and orphan's pension and unemployment insurance contributions. These gave specific entitlement only to the benefits of the schemes under which they were paid.
Social insurance contributions paid prior to 1953 can be taken into account for old age (contributory) pension purposes in satisfying the first two conditions, set out above, but cannot be used in calculating the yearly average.
However, I am committed to ensuring the broadest possible contributory pension cover to as many people as possible, and in that context, my Department is currently carrying out a review of the qualifying conditions for retirement and old age (contributory) pensions. I would like to assure the Deputy that this review will pay particular attention to the operation of the yearly average test and the possibility of using contributions paid prior to 1953 will be specifically examined.
Figures requested by the Deputy are not available at present.
