Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 24 Mar 1999

Vol. 502 No. 4

Written Answers. - Pension Provisions.

Gay Mitchell

Ceist:

147 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the reason a person (details supplied) in Dublin 8 who made over five years of full social welfare contributions post-1953 is not entitled to a pro rata pension in view of the fact self-employed people who pay 260 contributions or more now qualify for a 50 per cent social welfare pension; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8534/99]

Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

The person concerned is, at present, in receipt of a mixed-insurance pro rata pension at the current weekly rate of £32.50, which includes a qualified adult allowance in respect of his wife. This pension, which was introduced in November 1991, enables those with a mixture of full and modified rate insurance contributions to qualify for a pro rata pension. The pro rata pension, which was introduced in November 1997, extended entitlement to those whose yearly average, based on full-rate contributions, ranged from ten to 19. The person concerned does not qualify for this type of pension as his yearly average, based on his full-rate contributions, remains unchanged at eight.

In relation to the self-employed, new arrangements are being introduced to address the position of those self-employed people who were 56 years of age or over in April 1988 when compulsory social insurance was extended to the self-employed and who failed to qualify for a pension under the standard qualifying conditions as they did not satisfy the general requirement of having entered social insurance at least ten years before pension age.

A special old age contributory pension will be paid to those self-employed people who were 56 years of age or over in April 1988 and who have, at least, five years reckonable contributions paid since then. It will be paid at a flat rate of 50 per cent of the standard, maximum rate. Increases for adult and child dependants, where applicable, will also be payable at 50 per cent of the standard rate.

As the Deputy will be aware, I have long stated my commitment to ensuring the most broadly feasible contributory pension coverage to as many categories as possible. A review of the qualifying conditions for the old age contributory and retirement pensions is now under way in my Department. This is paying particular attention to the operation of the yearly average qualifying condition, including the possibility of using contributions paid prior to 1953 and to the commitment given in An Action Programme for the Millennium to provide a mechanism to allow women who take time out for family reasons to continue contributions for pension. Clearly, this is a complex exercise which will also need to address questions of equity and redistribution within the social welfare system. As I have previously indicated, I will report back to the House in due course.