Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Those are different arrangements to those of the State pension - contributory.

I do not propose to make any changes to the minimum paid contribution condition for accessing the scheme, as that would allow individuals who do not qualify for the State pension because of their existing paid contribution record between five and ten years to qualify just by paying voluntary contributions. That would have a significant impact on the Social Insurance Fund and would negate the basic requirement for the State pension of having paid contributions when working for a minimum of ten years.

It is important that we have in place a sustainable State pension system that is well funded in the years ahead. Accordingly, it is not considered reasonable that we would expect somebody to have ten years of contributions paid at a minimum to access the pension and that underlying rule applies to voluntary contributions as well.

However, I am prepared to accept the Senator's proposal to allow people to make voluntary contributions for up to five years after they finish work and I will make regulations to put that into effect.