Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 365: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the steps he will take to facilitate women, forced out of employment due to the marriage rule, to avail of contributory pensions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22725/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The National Pensions Framework was published on 3 March 2010. It encompasses all aspects of pensions, from social welfare to private occupational pensions and public sector pension reform. The aim of the framework is to deliver security, equity, choice and clarity for the individual, the employer and the State. It also aims to increase pension coverage, particularly among low to middle income groups and to ensure that State support for pensions is equitable and sustainable.

The issue of the marriage bar and how it might have affected women's eligibility for a State pension was one of the most common issues raised in the Green Paper consultation process. The gaps in pension coverage today are partly the result of societal norms which existed through to the 1970s and which, in the case of the marriage bar, required some women to retire from employment when they married.

Many Green Paper submissions proposed that the homemaker's scheme should be backdated beyond 1994 to take account of periods of care when women left employment due to the marriage bar. The main difficulty with this approach is that it would only address the position of women who paid full PRSI contributions during their working lives and would not assist the position of those women, mainly public servants, affected by the marriage bar. The State pension (non-contributory) is available to anyone who has an income need.

The Government accepts that, in today's society, policies such as the marriage bar would not be acceptable. However, it cannot always address issues that have arisen through the shortcomings and inequities in previous decades.

While it has been decided not to backdate the homemaker's scheme beyond 1994, however, for new pensioners from 2012, social insurance credits will be awarded to homemakers which will be backdated to 1994. This will assist many women to achieve a higher rate of state pension in the future.