Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 350: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the period over which years devoted to homecaring can be excluded in assessing average contribution for pension eligibility purposes; and if changes in these provisions have been included in the 2007 Estimates. [39679/06]

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 homemaker's scheme which was introduced from 1994. The scheme allows up to 20 years (from 1994) spent caring for children or incapacitated adults to be disregarded when a person's social insurance record is being averaged for pension purposes.

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, pay a minimum of 260 contributions at the appropriate rate and achieve a yearly average of at least 10 contributions from the time they enter insurance until they reach pension age must also be satisfied. Accordingly, a person who cannot satisfy the basic requirements outlined above or whose contribution record is based solely on modified contributions, payable in the public service, cannot benefit from the scheme.

No provision has been made in the 2007 estimates for changes to the homemaker's scheme. However, issues relating to the operation of the scheme, and social welfare pensions in general, will be considered in the context of the forthcoming Green Paper on pensions to which the Government is committed as part of the new social partnership agreement, Towards 2016. The Green Paper will be published at the end of March next year. A consultation process will then take place and the Government will publish a framework for future pensions policy later in the year.