Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Question 442: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will change the situation whereby contributory old age pensioners on reduced rate pension who made part of their contributions pre-1953 are not entitled to claim anything on their pre-1953 contributions without relinquishing their post-1953 contributory pension entitlements. [22136/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Pre-1953 contributions are very different to those made under the unified system of social insurance that applied from 1953 in that they do not contain any element towards the cost of contributory pensions. The special old age contributory pension based on pre-1953 insurance was introduced to enable such contributions to reckon for pension purposes subject to certain conditions in order to enable people who would not otherwise qualify for a payment under the standard qualifying conditions to qualify for a pension.

To qualify for this special pension, a person must have commenced insurable employment under the National Health Insurance Acts and have a total of at least 260 full-rate social insurance contributions paid since then. The 260 contributions can be made up solely of contributions paid prior to 1953 under the National Health Insurance Acts or of a combination of contributions paid before 1953 and after 1953 under the Social Welfare Acts. Pre-1953 contributions can be used to satisfy the first two qualifying conditions for contributory pensions which require a person to have entered social insurance ten years before pension age and have at least 260 social insurance contributions paid since first entering insurance. However, they may not be used to satisfy the average contribution test which, subject to the other conditions being satisfied, determines the rate at which a pension is paid. I am satisfied that the range of pensions available ensures that people receive good value for the contributions they have made. In the circumstances, there are no plans to introduce a change in policy along the lines suggested.

Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 443: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on introducing retrospective pension credits for those who have spent their working lives caring for others; the likely cost of such an initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22166/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The social welfare pension rights of those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties are protected by the homemaker's scheme. The scheme was introduced from 1994 and allows up to 20 years spent on caring duties to be disregarded when a person's insurance record is being averaged to assess entitlement for contributory pension purposes. However, the scheme will not of itself qualify a person for a pension as the standard qualifying conditions relating to the type and number of contributions paid or credited must also be satisfied.

In August 2000, the Department published a review of the qualifying conditions for old age contributory and retirement pensions. This review also included a general examination of the homemaker's scheme and the report suggested a number of reforms for further consideration. These included the possibility of changing the operative date of the scheme and replacing the disregard system with one based on actual credited contributions. The question of backdating the homemaker's scheme is being examined but it does give rise to difficult and complex issues, not least of which is the position of other groups excluded from social insurance cover over the years and who do not qualify for contributory pensions.

The cost of backdating the homemaker's scheme is difficult to estimate as it depends on the date from which the scheme would operate and the improvement it would make in pensions paid to existing social welfare pensioners and the number of new pensions that would result. In this regard, there are a number of dates from which the scheme might be made operative. If the scheme were backdated to 1953 when the unified system of social insurance was introduced, the estimated cost is €250 million. The question of improvements in the homemaker scheme is something which would have to be considered in a budgetary context.