Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

There are 40 questions there. The main thrust of what the Deputy is saying, under these different headings, is that we need to take more action as regards the position women find themselves in under the social welfare code, and I accept that. It is mainly women who are in receipt of qualified adult allowances. The issue of paying that directly is under examination. I have met representatives from the National Women's Council of Ireland and discussed that point with them. I am in favour of making that payment directly. I have asked the Department to work out the logistics of that and how we might make it happen. It is currently doing precisely that.

Poverty is more prevalent among women. One of the reasons, I suppose, is the proportion of those in receipt of contributory as opposed to non-contributory State pensions. Some 57% of those receiving the non-contributory State pension are women whereas on the contributory side, it is about 37%. It is clear from this that poverty is more prevalent among those in receipt of the means tested non-contributory pension. It is true that poverty has been affecting women more heavily, particularly those on non-contributory pensions.

Having said that, over the years substantial increases have been made in all pensions, as well as significant increases in disregards, particularly as regards allowing increased amounts of capital to be kept and so on. As regards poverty, this has contributed substantially towards improving the position of women.

The Deputy asked about the home maker's allowance. Every time there is a budget, and at other times, too, we look closely at the home maker's scheme to see whether it can be expanded. It has been expanded on a number of occasions and I will certainly consider whether it may be again. It has made a big difference to many women through ensuring they were able to get contributory pensions. By being given credit under the home maker's scheme they were allowed to get those pensions by qualifying for them.

The final point the Deputy made was about occupational pensions. I do not have a precise figure as regards how they have improved over the past 12 months. However, the number of people taking out PRSAs has increased and is now up to about 70,000, as against approximately 60,000 a year ago. These are very rough figures, however. I assume that a fair proportion of that increase in PRSAs may be accounted for by women. The participation rate of women in the workforce is now almost 53%, which is a dramatic increase, and that is bound to be reflected in the occupational pensions.

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