Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

503. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the status of the refusal of an application by a person (details supplied) for a contributory pension; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9792/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

A qualifying condition for state pension (contributory) is that a claimant must have a minimum of 520 paid social insurance contributions. According to the records of the Department, the person concerned has a total of 505 contributions, based on an aggregation of their Irish and EU social insurance records.

In certain cases, where a person under state pension age ceases to be covered by compulsory social insurance they may opt to become a voluntary contributor. The application must be made within the 12 month period immediately following the end of the contribution year in which the person ceased to be covered by compulsory insurance. In the case of the person concerned, the application to become a voluntary contributor would have to be made by 31 December 2013, as the last contribution year was 2012. There is no provision for the person concerned to pay a contribution shortfall at this stage.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.