Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Homemakers Scheme is not operated under its own Act but is governed by section 108 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, 2005, as amended, and associated regulations. The homemakers scheme makes qualification for the state pension (contributory) easier for those who take time out of the workforce for caring duties. The scheme was introduced in and took effect from 1994. The scheme allows up to 20 years spent caring for children under 12 years of age or incapacitated adults to be disregarded when a person's social insurance record is being averaged for pension purposes.

To be eligible for the Homemaker's Scheme, a person must:

Permanently live in the State;

Be aged under 66;

Have started insurable employment or self-employment on or after the age of 16 and before the age of 56;

Not work full-time, although a person can work and earn less than €38 gross per week;

Care for a child (under 12) or an incapacitated person on a full-time basis.

Credited contributions reckonable for state pension (contributory) only are awarded from the contribution week in which the insured person becomes a homemaker up to the end of the said contribution year or ceases to be a homemaker, whichever is the earlier, and from the beginning of the contribution year to end of the contribution week in which the cessation occurs.

The scheme will not, of itself, qualify a person for a pension. The standard qualifying conditions, which require a person to enter insurance ten 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.