Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. Matters relating to foster caring are the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and of Tusla.

This Government acknowledges the important role played by carers, including foster carers, and is fully committed to supporting them in that role. Accordingly, the current contributory State pension system provides measures including PRSI credits, homemaking disregards and home caring periods to recognise caring periods of up to 20 years outside of paid employment in the calculation of a payment rate. Foster carers are entitled to the benefits of the homemakers scheme or home caring periods, and will qualify if the carer is in receipt of child benefit. If the foster carer is not in receipt of child benefit, they can still qualify for homemaker’s scheme or home caring periods provided the caring periods are confirmed by Tusla.

Despite these measures, some long-term carers of incapacitated dependents may still face barriers in accessing the contributory State pension. For example, they may have difficulty establishing the minimum number of ten years of paid contributions. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, announced a series of landmark reforms to the State pension system in September 2022, in response to the recommendations of the Commission on Pensions. An important reform agreed by the Government is enhanced State pension provision for people who have been caring for incapacitated dependants for more than 20 years. It will do this by attributing the equivalent of a paid contribution to long-term carers to cover gaps in their contribution records. Foster carers who have cared for an incapacitated dependant or dependants for more than 20 years will also benefit from this important change. My officials are currently working to implement these reforms.

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