David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 261: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason PRSI contributions from self-employed people are not considered when assessing eligibility with regard to the retirement pension; his views on whether this discriminates against self-employed people; if he has considered or will consider altering the eligibility criteria to include PRSI contributions from self-employed people; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3598/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The retirement pension was introduced in 1970 and was intended to provide income support for people who had to retire aged 65 years until they became eligible for the normal social welfare pension, which at the time was payable from 70 years of age. The qualifying age for old age pension was subsequently reduced over time to 66 years of age which means the requirement to retire before receiving a retirement pension now only has effect for one year. The self-employed are not subject to compulsory retirement in the same way as employees and it was therefore considered unnecessary to provide them with social insurance cover for that contingency when compulsory social insurance was introduced for them in 1988.

The self-employed are covered for a range of social welfare benefits, including the old age contributory pension, which represents very good value for the level of contributions made. Any proposal to extend the benefits would necessarily involve an assessment of the additional costs that would arise and the level of social insurance contributions payable by the self-employed.