Vol. 511 No. 3
280 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his views on allowing people without adequate contributions for an old age pension payment to pay a lump sum to make up the lost contributions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24559/99]
281 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs his views on allowing people without adequate contributions for an old age pension payment having contributions repaid to them in view of the fact they are in a no win situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24560/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 280 and 281 together.
Social insurance is a means of providing a social contract between employers, employees, the self-employed and the State. Contributions are made by people to the Social Insurance Fund according to their ability to pay, when they are economically active. These contributions not only fund the pensions of an earlier generation of contributors but also provide a range of benefits to current contributors who are unable to work due to various contingencies – such as illness or unemployment. Entitlement to additional benefits such as dental or optical treatments is also a feature of the social insurance system.
As a person accumulates contributions these may ensure entitlement to a range of benefits one of which is a contributory pension. Therefore, the question of provision for retrospective entitlement through payment of a lump sum, as suggested by the Deputy, does not arise and I have no plans to change the current arrangements.
Where a person enters social insurance after reaching 55 years in the case of retirement pension and 56 years in the case of the old age contributory pension then the person may, subject to certain conditions, be entitled to a refund of the pension element of their PRSI contributions – provided that they do not qualify for an Old Age (non-contributory) pension.
I have highlighted my commitment to broadening contributory pensions coverage to as many categories as possible. With this in mind, and as the Deputy may be aware, the Department is, at present, finalising the first part of a review of the qualifying conditions for the old age contributory and retirement pensions, which is in line with this Government's commitment to address the issue of people who fail marginally to qualify for an old age contributory pension. The first phase of this review is, therefore, paying particular attention to the operation of the yearly average qualifying condition, as well as 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 purposes. However, as the Deputy will appreciate, any changes to the fundamental basis of a scheme involves a cost factor and, as with all improvements to social welfare schemes, these have to be considered in a budgetary context and in the light of available resources.
