Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 154: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the steps she will take to facilitate women, forced out of employment due to the marriage rule, to avail of contributory pensions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34489/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is anxious to ensure that as many people as possible can be accommodated within the social welfare pensions system, with due regard being paid to the contributory principle underlying entitlement to contributory payments and, in the case of non-contributory payments, the need to ensure that resources are directed to those who are most in need. Over the last 10 years, means tests have been improved and qualifying conditions for contributory payments made easier.

Many women, in both the private and the public sector, left employment on marriage because they were required to or because that was the societal norm at the time. Civil servants who left the workforce through the operation of the marriage bar were not insured for social welfare pension purposes. Accordingly, the loss of pension rights in their case relates more to their occupational position rather than social welfare pension entitlements.

That said, the Green Paper on Pensions, includes a full discussion on the social welfare pension position of women who had to resign due to the marriage bar. Decisions in relation to those who are not at present receiving support through the social welfare system, including those who had to leave employment on marriage, will be considered in that context. It is expected that the policy framework will be finalised by the end of the year.