Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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326. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the qualification requirements in respect of self-employed contributions for contributory old age pension; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2356/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The qualification conditions for all social welfare schemes are available at .

It is a fundamental principle of our social insurance system that those qualifying for benefits must satisfy a range of contribution and other conditions. In the case of contributory pensions this involves commencing payment of contributions 10 years before pension age, payment of a minimum number of contributions at an appropriate rate and reaching a minimum average annual contribution rate. The State pension (contributory) is a valuable benefit and the conditions are designed to ensure that those qualifying have had a sufficient and on-going attachment to the social insurance system.

The qualification conditions for State pension for the self-employed are as follows:

The person must:-

- Have entered insurance before 56^th birthday;

- Have a minimum of 520 full-rate paid contributions;

- Have paid a minimum of 1 year of self-employment contributions prior to 66th birthday;

- Have a yearly-average of at least 48 (for maximum SPC rate award) from the date of first payment of social insurance to the end of the last complete tax year prior to 66th birthday;

- Have a yearly average of at least 10 (for minimum SPC entitlement) (5 possible rate bands between 10-48);

- (Only) where the applicant commenced paying self-employment PRSI from 6/4/1988, in calculating their yearly-average, that date can be taken as the commencement date, if more advantageous.

A special pension for the self-employed was introduced in 1999 to enable people who were over age 56 at the time of the introduction of PRSI for the self-employed in 1988, and who could not therefore meet the standard qualifying conditions, to receive a contributory pension.

To qualify for the half rate pension a person must:-

- Have reached their 56^th birthday before 6/4/1988;

- Have commenced paying self-employment PRSI on/after 6/4/1988;

- Have a minimum of 520 full-rate contributions paid since starting to pay self-employment contributions.

It is worth noting that the Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance Fund found that in terms of value for money, that the self-employed achieve better value for money compared to the employed - when the comparison includes both employer and employee contributions in respect of the employed person.