Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 269: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when a decision will be made on a contributory pension application in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4093/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The person concerned was awarded, a ('Pre-1953') State Pension (Contributory) in July 2005, with effect from May 2000, under the Bilateral Agreement on Social Security between Ireland and the United States of America.

In 2009, a request was received by the person concerned for a review of their pension, based on the recognition of a commercial partnership between the person concerned and their spouse.

The qualifying conditions for State Pension (Contributory) require the applicant to:

- have entered insurable employment before attaining the age of 56 years

- have at least 260 paid contribution weeks since entry into insurance

- satisfy the yearly average condition.

In addition, Section 110 (1) of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005 provides that a self-employed contributor shall not be regarded as satisfying the qualifying conditions unless:

(a) the person has paid self-employment contributions in respect of at least one contribution year before attaining pensionable age,

(b) all self-employment contributions payable by him or her have been paid.

Section 110 (1)(a) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005, has been on the statute books for over fifteen years and there has not been a change in policy in relation to the requirement to have paid at least one year's self employment contributions prior to reaching age 66, in order to qualify for a State Pension (Contributory).

According to the records of the Department, the self-employment contributions were all paid by the person concerned after their 66th birthday. The person concerned does not therefore satisfy the condition at (a) above and has no entitlement to a State Pension (Contributory) based on her self-employment contributions. The person concerned has been notified of this decision on the 25th January 2010. However her existing State Pension (Contributory 'Pre-1953') payment rate has not been affected by this decision and will continue to be paid at the regular weekly amount. No overpayment has been incurred.

It should be noted that while the publication of the leaflet 'Working with your spouse: how it affects your social welfare contributions and entitlements' clarified existing procedures in relation to the recognition of commercial partnerships between husbands and wives for social insurance purposes, including retrospective payment of social insurance, it did not involve a change in existing policy or administration. In particular, the clarification of the position did not alter people's potential entitlements and all applicants for the state pension (contributory) must continue to satisfy the eligibility conditions as contained in legislation, and outlined above.