Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The 520 number is also required if a person wishes to make voluntary contributions. It changed when the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, was Minister. There used to be a one-year window to make voluntary contributions and now there is a five-year window. I did not succeed in getting the Government to reduce the threshold. If a person has 470 contributions, for example, it is not just a case that he or she would not be in the scheme but such a person could not even make voluntary contributions to make it up.