Vol. 543 No. 1
210 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will consider applications for old age contributory pension from persons who were expected to pay PRSI at age 56 but were not obliged to do so due to their low income; if he will allow such applicants to receive partial contributory old aged pension in order to reflect that situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25791/01]
Compulsory social insurance was introduced for the self-employed in 1988. Those liable to contribute include self-employed people with an annual income of £2,500 or more.
In order to qualify for an old age contributory pension a person must have entered social insurance at least ten years before reaching pension age, have a minimum number of paid contributions on their record, currently 156 or 260 contributions depending on how the yearly average is calculated, and have a yearly average of at least ten contributions paid or credited from 1953 when the unified system of social insurance came into effect or the date of entry into social insurance, if later. A combination of contributions from employment and self-employment may be used to satisfy the qualifying conditions. The qualifying conditions are designed to ensure that those receiving contributory pensions have demonstrated a reasonable attachment to the social insurance system.
A number of concessions have already been made in relation to self-employed people who became insurable in 1988. A self-employed person who became a contributor on 6 April 1988 and who at any time prior to that date was an employed contributor can have their earlier record disregarded, if it is to their advantage, when their average contribution record is being calculated. A special pension was introduced by me in 1999 for those self-employed who commenced contributions in 1988 but who, at that stage, were already over 56 years of age and could not therefore satisfy the condition that they must have entered insurance ten years before pension age. These measures are a reasonable response to the difficulties which some self-employed experienced when compulsory social insurance was introduced in 1988. The question of making further concessions in this area could only be considered in a budgetary context.
