Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 573: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on allowing a contributory old age pension to people who volunteer as carers of people with disabilities and the elderly. [19802/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The PRSI system is designed to provide income protection to employees and the self employed in insurable employment, with entitlement to benefits based on a person experiencing certain contingencies and satisfying prescribed contribution conditions. Insurable employment is employment which involves earnings from €38 per week and so the accumulation of contributions is relatively easy under the Irish system. While the link between employment and self-employment is an essential aspect of the system, nevertheless, a number of arrangements are in place to protect the position of those who leave the workforce to care for children or adults who need care and assistance.

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 in, and took effect 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, 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. Those carers who receive carer's allowance or benefit can, subject to conditions, receive credited social insurance contributions. There is also a system of voluntary contributions in place which allows people who have left the workforce to continue to make social insurance contributions.

Overall, the range of options available under the system to deal with caring issues, the availability of the voluntary contributions system and the very low level of earnings qualifying for social insurance contributions make it relatively easy for someone to maintain an adequate social insurance record.

The Government is committed to publishing a Green Paper on pensions under Towards 2016. The discussion in the Green Paper will, amongst other things, deal with the question, in the wider sense, of those who do not qualify for any support, contributory or non-contributory, under the social welfare pensions system and will set out the implications of making provision for them. The Green Paper will be published shortly. A consultation process will follow publication, prior to Government deciding on a framework for long-term pensions policy in all areas of pension provision.