Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 121: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if his views on extending back the concession introduced some years ago whereby persons who dropped out of the insured workforce on order to undertake caring duties for children under 12 years or other persons in need of long-term care, would have those years of absence ignored for the purpose of averaging contributions, whereby such years would be ignored regardless of when they occurred and not only in more recent years. [17747/06]

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 home-maker's scheme which was introduced from 1994. The scheme allows up to 20 years spent caring for children or incapacitated adults to be disregarded when a person's social insurance record is being averaged for pension purposes. However, the scheme will not of itself qualify a person for a pension. The standard qualifying conditions, which require a person to enter insurance 10 years before pension age, have a minimum of 260 paid contributions and achieve a yearly average of at least 10 contributions on their record from the time they enter insurance until they reach pension age must also be satisfied.

For any year to be disregarded, a home-maker 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 home-maker. Proposals to change the operative date of the home-maker'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 consideration by my Department.

In general, changes to insurability of employment are not backdated and the same principle was applied to the home-maker's scheme in 1994. The question of backdating the home-maker's scheme 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 contributory pensions. These include the reduction in the yearly average number of contributions required for pension purposes from 20 to 10 and the introduction of special half rate pensions based on pre-1953 insurance contributions. Pro-rata pensions are also available to allow people with mixed rate insurance records to receive a payment. 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.

There are, of course, those who will not benefit from the home-maker's scheme and who cannot qualify for a pension in their own right. In this regard, the Government is committed to increasing the payment for qualified adults (age 66 or over) to the same level as the personal rate of the old age (non-contributory) pension and to facilitate the direct payment of the allowance to spouses and partners.

In relation to the non-contributory pension, in Budget 2006, I made changes to the income disregards allowed under the means test. The basic income disregard was increased by €12.40 per week to €20 and I also introduced an earnings disregard of €100 per week. These allowances are doubled in the case of couples and will allow more people to qualify for social welfare pensions. I will continue to look for ways, within the current social welfare structure, in which the needs of older people who are at present outside the social welfare pensions system may be addressed further.