Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

The Government acknowledges the very important role that foster carers play. We remain fully committed to supporting them. The contributory State pension system already provides a range of measures to recognise caring periods outside of paid employment, such as 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 our payment rate. Foster carers are entitled to benefit from these measures on the same basis as other carers and parents. If they are not in receipt of child benefit they can still qualify for the homemaker's scheme or home caring periods, provided the caring periods are confirmed by Tusla.

Since January 2024 long-term carer's contributions can be awarded to a person who has cared for an incapacitated person for a period of 20 years or more. These contributions are treated in the same way as paid contributions for contributory State pension entitlement and can be used to fill any gap in a person's contribution record, including satisfying the minimum 520 contributions required for eligibility. Foster carers who have cared for an incapacitated dependent or dependents for more than 20 years also benefit from this provision.

These measures assist for carers to access the State pension system in the same way as biological or adoptive parents, while ensuring the system remains sustainable. Any future change to the State pension system will have been considered in the overall policy and budgetary context, including, as we have just discussed, the sustainability of the Social Insurance Fund.

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