John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 246: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he has plans to treat women who have worked only in the home as being independent of their spouse when being assessed for the State non-contributory pension; his views on whether using their husband's income when assessing their means compounds the sacrifice made be women in this situation who have given up their own careers to look after their families; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43049/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The social welfare system comprises two types of payment, social insurance based schemes, which require those eligible to reach a certain standard in terms of the social insurance contributions paid or credited on their record, and non-contributory payments designed for those without the necessary social insurance record for contributory schemes who can satisfy a means test. Within that basic structure the Government is anxious to ensure that as many people as possible, particularly women, can qualify for a pension in their own right and a number of measures are in place to support this objective.

The state pension (non-contributory) is a social assistance scheme and, in common with all other such schemes, features a means test. In assessing eligibility for social assistance payments, the means test is based on household income. This is to ensure that resources committed to social assistance payments are used to provide support and improve the position of those who are most in need.

However, as already indicated, I am anxious to see as many as possible qualifying for payments in their own right and improvements have been made to the means test in pursuit of this objective. The new enhanced state pension (non-contributory) for those over 66 years, which I introduced at the end of September, features significant improvements in the means test which will allow some who are currently outside the social welfare pensions system to qualify for a payment. Further improvements were made to the means test in last week's Budget by increasing the means disregard by €10 to €30 per week. In addition, I increased the employment earnings disregard by €100 to €200 per week. Both of these disregards are doubled for pensioner couples.

With regard to pensions generally, the Government is committed to producing a Green Paper on pensions as part of the new social partnership agreement Towards 2016 with a view to developing a framework for future pensions policy. This will deal with pensions in general but it will also address outstanding issues relating to social welfare pensions, including the position of those who remain outside the system. The Green Paper will be published within months. A consultation process will then take place and the Government will subsequently publish a framework for future pensions policy.