Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 630: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his plans to credit those who leave work to rear a family and then resume PRSI contributions in view of the fact that people in these circumstances are not eligible for full contributory pension. [14650/07]

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 in and took effect from 1994. The scheme allows time spent caring for children up to 12 years of age or incapacitated adults to be disregarded when a person's social insurance record is being averaged for pension purposes. A maximum of 20 years can be disregarded in this way.

For any year to be disregarded, a homemaker must be out of the workforce for a complete year (52 weeks). Provision is also made for the award of credited contributions in the year in which a person commences or ceases to be a homemaker. The homemaker's 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 correct rate 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.

Possible reforms to the scheme, including the question of providing cover for periods spent caring before 1994 and changing the disregard system to actual credited contributions, will be discussed in the forthcoming Green Paper on pensions. Decisions on the future of the scheme will be made in the context of the consultation process and the framing of long-term pensions policy, which will follow the publication of the Green Paper.