Ms Clare Duffy:

I thank the Deputy for her questions. She asked whether the total contributions approach is working well and whether we had engagement with the Department on that issue. Family Carers Ireland published a paper a number of years ago on the State pension and carers, called Mind the Gap. The best way I can describe the TCA is that it plugs some but not all of the gaps that are there. We have already talked about the increase for a qualified adult and the issues around that, as well as self-employment versus employment. The TCA plugs some of those issues but not all of them. The major issue it does not plug is the requirement to have 520 paid contributions. It does nothing for carers who do not achieve that. Addressing that issue is what is so attractive about the recommendations the pensions commission has made about moving forward. Those recommendations do two really important things. First, they allow for gaps in people' employment record extending beyond a limit of 20 years to be filled. The interim TCA has a limit which makes it as though caring does not happen after a person has done it for 20 years. It just ignores a situation where there have been 20-plus years of caregiving. The new scheme would recognise those additional years. It would also allow Exchequer-funded contributions in respect of caregiving periods to be counted as part of the 520 contributions. It abolishes the 520 benchmark, which is at the heart of all of this. In short, yes, there are improvements to the TCA but it certainly does not plug all of the gaps.

The Deputy asked whether we have had engagement with the Department. We had a really good engagement with the pensions commission. We were perhaps one of the few organisations that was invited to make an oral submission, which we did in February. In terms of engaging directly with the Department on pensions and a carers' register, that has not happened yet. One of the commission's recommendations refers specifically to the establishment of a register of carers and notes that this could be attached to the national carers' strategy. The revised strategy was due to be published by the Department of Health this year but has been delayed. As far as I am aware, scoping work has not yet begun on a new strategy. If the establishment of a carers' register is going to be an action contained within that, I am worried about the timelines. This issue must be treated with urgency and it does not have to sit under the national carers' strategy.