Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 214: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the extent to which bilateral agreements are working satisfactorily; if there is a need to modernise or otherwise amend the existing arrangements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31255/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland has social security agreements with seven countries — Austria, Australia,Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the USA and Switzerland. These agreements came into effect between 1989 and 1999, except for that with the UK which came into effect in 1971. Ireland also has a bilateral understanding with Quebec since 1 October 1994.

All these agreements are currently in operation and working satisfactorily. The main purpose of these agreements is to protect the social security pension rights of workers who have worked both in Ireland and the other country to which the agreement applies. In the case of Austria,Switzerland and the United Kingdom, they now have limited application as the EU regulations normally apply.

The bilateral agreements provide for the adding together of periods of insurance and, where appropriate, periods treated as equivalent to periods of insurance, completed in Ireland and the other country involved, for the purposes of calculating and awarding pensions. They also provide that temporarily posted workers may continue for a specific period under the social insurance system of the country in which they were previously insured instead of transferring for a short period into the other country's system.

Liaison procedures have been established with each country and are kept under constant review. Regular contact is made with the appropriate foreign agencies to ensure the smooth transfer of the necessary information required to decide on these types of claims. At present, no significant difficulties are being experienced in relation to any of the agreements.

For all schemes, the time taken to process claims that fall to be examined under bilateral agreements is longer than that for standard Irish entitlements, reflecting the added complexity that arises in determining entitlements under these agreements. While every effort is made to minimise processing times, the over-riding objective in dealing with these claims is to ensure that people receive their full entitlements. I am satisfied that overall the procedures are working effectively and efficiently. An updated social security agreement with the UK has been signed and it is hoped to have it ratified before the end of this year.

A revised social security agreement with Australia was signed on 9 June 2005. I hope to be in a position to lay the revised agreement before the House for approval in the very near future. In relation to the Irish provisions, there were very few changes required to the existing agreement.

Discussions have been held between officials of my Department and their counterparts in New Zealand regarding revision of that agreement. As in the case of Australia, the amendments to the Irish provisions are likely to be few.

It is intended, in due course, to consult with the relevant authorities in Canada, Quebec and the United States and to examine the need for updating the provisions of these agreements.