Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 340: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when a person (details supplied) who applied for an Irish pension in July 2006 can expect a decision on their application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26392/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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According to my Department's records, the person concerned has a total of 72 Irish insurance contributions paid over the 48 year period from 1953 to 2001. This gives a yearly average of 2, which is not sufficient to qualify the person concerned for a standard State Pension Contributory. A minimum yearly average of 10 is required to entitle a person to a State Pension Contributory.

As the person concerned was employed in the UK, his Irish and UK contributions can, under European Union regulations, be combined to establish entitlement to a proportional or pro-rata pension. Details of his UK insurance record has been requested from the Department of Social Security and a decision on his entitlement to a pro-rata pension will be made as soon as this information is received.