Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

Self-employed people or those paying PAYE who go into State employment are not aware that they can make voluntary contributions. Is there a mechanism whereby they can back pay their voluntary contributions to qualify for a State pension as they approach retirement age? There may be people who were not aware that they could pay voluntary contributions on arriving in this House or going into State employment. They may not discover it until a year or two later. Does this provision shut the door by stating they cannot pay voluntary contributions if they have not done so in the first year? If that is the situation it is grossly unfair. Will the Minister explain the position to us?