Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister. The issue I am raising affects countless women across Ireland who dedicate their lives to raising families, caring for their loved ones or working tirelessly on family farms and who find themselves at a financial disadvantage when they reach pension age. These women who give so much to their families, communities and the economy are being penalised by a pension system that fails to recognise their contribution. This is a long-standing injustice that must be addressed without delay.

Women who stay at home face a double disadvantage. For generations, women have made the difficult choice to leave paid employment in order to care for their children. This work, though unpaid, is essential. The women who do it are the backbone of our society. Yet when they reach retirement, they are punished for this decision because they often receive a reduced pension or, in some cases, no pension at all because they lack the necessary PRSI contributions. Similarly, women who work on family farms, whether helping with livestock, maintaining records or managing the household that sustains the farm, often do so without formal pay, pension contributions or financial independence. These are workers in every sense of the word, yet the pension system does not acknowledge their labour. The result is that these women, who have worked every bit as hard as those in traditional employment, face financial insecurity in their later years. This is not just an economic issue. It is a matter of fairness, gender equality and valuing all work, paid or unpaid.

We already know that women in Ireland receive significantly lower pensions than men, with a gender pension gap of approximately 35%. However, for women in rural areas, particularly those who work on family farms, the gap is even wider. Many farm spouses and daughters work full time on the land but do not qualify for full contributory pensions because they are never formally employed. Family farms are the backbone of rural Ireland, yet the women who keep them running are often left out of the pension system entirely and this must change.

The first solution we are looking for is for the home caring periods scheme to be expanded. The current system does not go far enough. All years spent caring for children or other family members must be fully counted towards a pension. Second, women's work on family farms should be recognised. They should be automatically entitled to PRSI contributions, regardless of whether they receive a direct wage. Family farms should be supported to ensure that every family member, especially those who are women, has pension security. We support a universal State pension that is not means tested and the provision of financial and pension advice for women. Too many women are unaware of their entitlements until it is too late. The Government must do more around education, especially for those in rural areas.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the House for facilitating my presence here and I thank Senator Collins for raising this issue. As she will be aware, the contributory State pension is funded from the Social Insurance Fund through contributions paid by workers and employers. To qualify for this payment, a person must have 520 contributions, which is the equivalent of ten years of paid contributions.

The rate of payment reflects the number of social insurance contributions paid over a working life.

The State pension contributory system gives significant recognition and support to those whose work history includes extended periods outside of paid employment, often to care or to raise families, frequently in full-time caring roles, many of whom are the women the Senator has just spoken about. This is done through PRSI credits and pension caring schemes, which depend on the method upon which a pension is calculated.

The homemaker scheme applies under the yearly average calculation method and home caring periods are used under the total contributions approach. Both the homemaker scheme and home caring periods allow up to a maximum of 20 years spent caring for children under 12 or other dependent relatives to be included in the relative calculation. 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 1,040 weeks or more. These contributions can be used in the calculation of the individual's State pension contributory entitlement. This is done by attributing the equivalent of a paid contribution to long-term carers of incapacitated dependants to cover gaps in contribution records.

For those who do not qualify for a contributory State pension or only qualify for a reduced contributory pension based on their social insurance records, the non-contributory pension is available. The non-contributory pension is a means-tested social assistance payment for people aged 66 years or over who habitually reside in the State. As with all other social assistance schemes, payments are based on an income need. The combination of both the contributory and non-contributory pensions means that no person without a viable income need is disadvantaged within the State pension system.

Regarding women working on family farms, there are legislative provisions in place that allow for social insurance contributions to be paid, recognising that family members regularly support one another in businesses or other enterprises, including family farming. These include farm partnerships and family businesses incorporated as limited companies. In the case of farm partnership, where two or more family members, which includes spouses or civil partners, operate a business, including farming, as a partnership and share the profits, each business partner is insurable as a self-employed contributor provided that each partner earns €5,000 or more in a contribution year. Provision also exists for people to have their partnership recognised retrospectively on provision of appropriate evidence that a commercial partnership existed for the period in question. When a partnership is recognised retrospectively, both partners incur liability to pay self-employed PRSI for the years in question.

The legislative provisions concerning family employment and social insurance coverage achieve the necessary balance between operating a formal, uniform system and the need to take account of informal and varied practicalities that are inherent in family farms and other family-operated enterprises. However, I take the Senator's point on spreading this information. I will work with the Department to get it this information out there.

Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister. That is exactly what I was going to raise with him. The education piece is the most part. For so many women whom I have met over the past couple of months, their issue was more that, if they had had another couple of weeks or months adding to their pensions, they would have come away with full pensions. They just lacked those couple of contributions. Maybe a bit of education coming from the Government will help these women to see how much more they need.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I have taken the Senator's position on information on board. We have an extensive presence at farming events, including the national ploughing championship, to provide that information on a one-to-one basis. As with all our office members, my office is more than happy to assist with any specific queries that the Senator may have.