Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Then I am spot on and thank the Minister.

First, I want to add to the cohort of people seeking equity. Unfortunately, the stamp or social insurance contributions made by farmers on a low income but in receipt of farm assist prior to 2007 are not recognised. That means that when they are assessed for a contributory old age pension, or part thereof, their contribution history prior to that is not recognised. I know of one man who needed to have made ten years of stamp payments prior to his 66th birthday and he had made contributions for more than ten years. However, he commenced making his contributions prior to 2007 and the years prior to 2007 were disregarded. Notwithstanding the fact that he paid his stamp, only nine years of his contributions have been recognised. He wants to know why he had to pay the stamp as it was never going to be recognised and he was in receipt of a farm assist payment.

Second, people who were self-employed but became PAYE workers did not have their K class stamp, if that is the correct stamp, recognised. I know of one gentleman who had a bakery and employed many people. Times changed and the large multiples took over. The man had to close his business. He paid the redundancies and paid the class K stamp, or relevant stamp, as a company executive for the entire period, and then he became an employee. The entire period for which he paid the class K stamp was not recognised. I appreciate that the Minister has not been given notice about this case and I know that she will get back to me about these two issues. Both cases relate to people who have paid into the system, in particular the latter individual who employed a considerable number of people. His former employees will receive a full pension yet he only receives a partial pension so it is no surprise that he feels hard done by. In the context of the total contributions approach, perhaps some of these matters could be considered in terms of the type of stamp to be paid by the farmer, the pharmacist and the self-employed company executive.