Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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394. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons in the population on social welfare payments who are currently in receipt of a qualified adult payment and would have qualified to receive the qualified adult rate under the State pension transition in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively and who will no longer do so as a result of its abolition from 1 January 2014. [2992/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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A person who is in receipt of a social welfare payment may claim an increase in respect of a qualified spouse or partner (IQA). In relation to pensions, an increase for a qualified adult is normally paid where the qualified adult does not have enough contributions to claim a pension in their own right and it is usually paid on the basis of the contribution history of the primary pension recipient.

It is not possible to state how many people would qualify for an IQA as claims are only decided when an application for State pension is received. However, in 2012 there were 2,690 IQAs in payment on State pension transition (SPT). If one uses CSO and this administrative data for 2012, it is estimated that some 6.5% of those aged over 65 year olds were awarded an IQA on SPT. The forecasted increase in the older population due to demographic changes would suggest that this number would increase somewhat in future years.