Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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501. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the extent to which she continues to examine the situation whereby women who left full-time employment to care for a relative or family member and returned to the workforce with insufficient time to enable them to make the necessary contributions can meet the necessary contributions to qualify for a pension; if she continues to examine such cases with the prospect of remedial action; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24999/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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This Government acknowledges the important contribution that carers provide and is fully committed to supporting them in that role. Accordingly, the current State Pension (Contributory) system gives significant recognition to those whose work history includes an extended period of time outside the paid workplace, often to raise families or to provide another full-time caring role. PRSI Credits, Homemaking Disregards and HomeCaring Periods recognise caring periods of up to 20 years outside of paid employment in the calculation of a payment rate.

Despite these measures some long-term carers of incapacitated dependents may still face barriers in accessing the State Pension. They may for example have difficulty establishing the minimum number of 10 years paid contributions.

I announced a series of landmark reforms to the State Pension system in September 2022. The measures are in response to the Pensions Commission’s recommendations and represent the biggest ever structural reform of the Irish State Pension system.

One of the most important reforms agreed by Government is enhanced State Pension provision for people who have been caring for incapacitated dependents for over 20 years. It will do this by attributing the equivalent of paid contributions to long-term carers to cover gaps in their contribution record and by establishing a register of family carers for this purpose.

Department officials are currently working to implement the reforms, including the drafting of legislation and development of administrative and IT systems for implementation by January 2024. This will include identifying the eligibility criteria for those who will be attributed the equivalent of paid contributions for periods of long-term caring.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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502. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she might examine the extent to which a shortfall in an applicant's contributions has affected their entitlement to the State pension (contributory); if there remains an option of increasing their contributions up to the required level to enable them to qualify; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25000/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The State Pension (Contributory) is a PRSI-based pension, financed by contributions made by current workers and their employers, and paid to pensioners, at a rate based upon their PRSI record.

A person is required to have a minimum of 520 paid reckonable PRSI contributions in order to qualify for the State Pension (Contributory). As the actuarial value of the State Pension is currently estimated at approximately €380,000, it is reasonable to require people claiming a contributory pension to have made at least 10 years of paid contributions over the term of their working life, before qualifying for a payment. The requirement for eligibility criteria in order to qualify for the State Pension (Contributory) was endorsed by the Commission on Pensions.

In September 2022, I announced a series of landmark reforms to the State Pension system. The measures are in response to the Pensions Commission’s recommendations and represent the biggest ever structural reform of the Irish State Pension system.

One of the key measures is the introduction of a flexible pension system in Ireland from January 2024. Under this new system people will still be able to retire at 66 and draw-down their pension in exactly the same way as they can today. In addition, there will be new flexibility so that people can choose to defer their pension, work longer and receive an actuarially based increase in the weekly payment rate.

The flexible State Pension system is about providing people with choice. People will decide for themselves what best suits their needs and circumstances. For example, in the case of a person who reaches age 66 and does not have sufficient contributions to qualify for a full pension, they will now have the option to work for up to 4 years longer to build up additional entitlements. If a person has less than 10 years PRSI reckonable paid contributions, they may be able to use this period to establish entitlement.

Officials in my Department are currently working on the legislation and systems to support the introduction of this change, which will be effective from January 2024.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.