Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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574. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide details of the bilateral social security agreement which exists between this jurisdiction and Australia and the social welfare payment to which it pertains; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34826/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Bilateral Social Security Agreement between Ireland and Australia originally came into force on 8th April 1992. The agreement was revised with effect from 1st April 2006. The main purpose of the Agreement is to protect the pension rights of people who have worked and paid reckonable social security contributions in both Ireland and Australia. The Agreement does this by allowing social security contributions paid in one country to be counted towards qualifying for certain payments in the other country.

The Irish payments covered under the Agreement are: state pension (contributory), state pension (transition), widow's, widower's or surviving civil partner's (contributory) pension, guardian's payment (Contributory), invalidity pension, and bereavement grant. The Australian payments covered under the Agreement are: age pensions, disability support pensions, and pensions for widows and widowers. The Agreement also sets out arrangements for insuring workers assigned by their employer to work temporarily in each country. In those circumstances a worker can continue to pay social insurance in the home country for up to 4 years. An information booklet published by the Department with further details of this agreement can be found on the Department's website at .