Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is an issue that I raised with the Minister on a number of previous occasions, about the difficulties that people - particularly women - face when applying for the State pension since changes were introduced in 2012 by the Minister's predecessor, Deputy Joan Burton. Difficulties arise for those who started work early in life. A gap in contributions occurs, often due to family and child-minding duties. The homemaker's credit scheme introduced in 1994 does not address this issue for women who worked in the home before 1994. I wonder if the Minister's Department has costings on extending it to take care of that group of people who are affected by this from before 1994.

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