Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 16: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his proposals to change homemakers disregards to homemakers credits. [30777/05]

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 35: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his proposals to make homemakers disregards retrospective for all women who engaged in unpaid care work from 1953. [30778/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 35 together.

The homemaker's scheme which was introduced in 1994 is intended to mitigate the effect of periods spent on caring duties when a person's insurance record is being averaged for pension purposes. The scheme 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. For any year to be disregarded a homemaker must be out of the workforce for a complete year — 52 weeks — from 6 April 1994. Provision is also made for the award of credited contributions in the year in which a person commences or ceases to be a homemaker.

However, it must be borne in mind that the scheme will not of itself qualify a person for a pension. The standard qualifying conditions for pensions, which require a person to enter insurance ten years before pension age, pay a minimum of 260 contributions at the correct rate and achieve a yearly average of at least ten contributions on their record from the time they enter insurance until they reach pension age must also be satisfied.

The proposals to change the operative date of the homemaker's scheme and to replace the disregard system with one based on actual credited contributions are contained in the review of the qualifying conditions for old age contributory and retirement pensions. In relation to the question of changing the disregard system to one based on credits, this is at present under active consideration by my Department.

In general, changes to insurability of employment etc. are not backdated and the same principle was applied to the homemaker's scheme in 1994. The question of backdating the homemaker's scheme to 1953 when the unified system of social insurance came into operation gives 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.

Apart from that, there would be very practical difficulties in certifying periods of caring and very significant costs involved. In relation to the latter, a significant part of any cost will involve improved payments to those who may already be receiving reduced rate pensions.

The Government is anxious to ensure that as many people as possible can qualify for pensions in their own right. A number of measures have been introduced over the years which make it easier for people to qualify for pensions. These include the reduction in the yearly average number of contributions required for pension purposes from 20 to ten and the special half rate pension based on pre-53 insurance contributions.

Pro rata pensions are also available to allow people with mixed rate insurance records to receive a payment and this is of benefit to people who may have worked in both the public and private sectors. This set of measures is of particular benefit to women who may have less than complete social insurance records due to working in the home. It is estimated that approximately 87% of women aged 65 years of age are at present receiving social welfare support, either in their own right or as qualified adults on the pension of their spouse or partner.

I am examining aspects of the social welfare pension system. This includes the relationship between contributory and non-contributory schemes and the operation of means testing in the context of old age non-contributory pension. The needs of people who are outside the social welfare pensions system, including those excluded by virtue of time spent on caring duties, may be best addressed in the context of that review.