Martin Cullen (Waterford, 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. 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.

In general, social welfare reforms, including those affecting the social insurance records of individuals, are not backdated but apply from a current date. The same approach was taken in relation to the homemakers scheme, which was introduced in 1994 and applies to periods spent out of the paid workforce from that date.

The operation of the homemakers scheme is reviewed in the Green Paper on pensions. Decisions regarding pension provision for people who do not currently qualify for a social welfare pension will be made in the context of the framework for long-term pensions policy, which will be developed after the consultation process on the Green Paper has been completed around the middle of 2008.