Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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487. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of women who have been cut off the State pension (non-contributory) and QA contributory pensions in each of the past ten years (details supplied). [4259/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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State Pension Non-Contributory (SPNC) is a means-tested payment for people aged 66 and over, habitually residing in the State, who do not qualify for a state pension contributory, or who only qualify for a reduced rate contributory pension based on their social insurance record.

State Pension (Contributory) (SPC) is a social insurance based payment made to people at age 66. This is not a means-tested payment. The State Pension (Contributory) is based solely on a person’s record of contributions. A person can receive payment of State Pension (Contributory) and continue to work or have other income such as an occupational pension.

Subject to a means test being satisfied, an increase for qualified adult on state pension contributory or non-contributory may be payable where a pension claimant’s spouse, civil partner or co-habitant is financially dependent on them.

With State Pension Contributory, an increase for qualified adult is a means-tested payment, payable to a claimant whose spouse, civil partner or cohabitant is being wholly or mainly maintained by them, and where that qualified adult’s personal means from any source does not exceed a means test income limit.

A person’s entitlement to a state pension non-contributory or to an increase for qualified adult on state pension contributory or non-contributory may, on review, be stopped or withdrawn if:

they are found to be financially better off on another payment (which has been awarded to them

the weekly statutory means limit is no longer satisfied

they no longer satisfy the Habitual Residence Condition (appropriate to State pension non-contributory, only)

they fail to disclose means when requested to do so

their whereabouts are not known when the Department tries to contact them

The age at which an individual becomes eligible for payment of SPC or SPNC is 66. According to annual population estimates released by the CSO, there were 381,292 females aged 66 or over in Ireland in 2022. This figure is provisional and subject to revision following the publication of the Census 2022 results.

The number of women in receipt of SPC and SPNC in each of the last 10 years is provided in Table 1.

Table 1: Females in receipt of SPC or SPNC, by year

My Department does not hold data on the number of women who have had their payment stopped over the last 10 years. The number of claims rejected and disallowed for SPC and SPNC over each of the last 10 years is shown in Table 2. Due to the way data is stored in my Department, this data is only available in aggregated form. It is not possible to provide the breakdown by sex, or the breakdown of the reasons that a claim was rejected or withdrawn.

Table 2: SPC and SPNC claims withdrawn and rejected, by year

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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488. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of applications processed by her Department for carers allowance for the period 2015 to 2022, in tabular form, disaggregated by year of application, county of residence of claimant; the number of applications where further inquiries were made by way of correspondence with the claimant; the number of applications where further inquiries were made by way of a social welfare inspector’s report; the number of applications refused; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4261/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Historic information on the number of applications received on a county basis and the number of applications where further information was requested is not available.

The following table provides a breakdown by year of applications received, awarded and rejected for the period 2015 to 2022.

The following table provides a breakdown by year of new Carer's Allowance applications which were referred to Social Welfare Inspectors for the period 2017 to 2022.  Information prior to 2017 is unavailable.