Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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305. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will report on the progress to achieve the objectives of the report of the Special Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality which pertain to her Department; her views on pension inequality for women; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38783/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Progress has been made in a number of areas relevant to my Department since publication of the Special Committee's report.

This year, my Department’s expenditure on Carer’s Allowance is estimated to be over €1.1 billion, supporting 97,406 people on this payment. I was the first Minister for Social Protection in 14 years to make improvements to the Carer's Allowance means test to enable more people to qualify for the payment. Since June 2022, this amounts to cumulative increases to the disregards of €117.50 for a single carer and €235 for a carer who is part of couple. These are the highest income disregards in the social welfare system. In Budget 2021, in my first budget in the Department, I increased the Carer’s Support Grant (CSG) to €1,850, its highest ever level. In June this year, the Grant was paid to over 127,000 carers.

Since August 2024, Parent’s Leave and Benefit have been extended by 2 weeks to 9 weeks per parent. In last year's Budget the rate of Maternity Benefit, Paternity Benefit and Parents' benefit was increased by €12 to €274 per week from January 2024.

Child maintenance payments are now excluded from the means assessment for all social welfare payments. In addition, the requirement for applicants for One-Parent Family Payment and Jobseeker's Transitional Payment to make "efforts to seek maintenance" from their child's other parent has been removed.

There are three primary pension payments available to men and women aged 66 or above paid by my Department. When combined, the average pension payment made to men and women is relatively similar. Since the introduction of the Total Contributions Approach in 2018, the provision of HomeCaring periods for those who take time out of the workforce to care for children and other dependent relatives has resulted in women increasing their rate of payment under the State Pension (Contributory).

Since January this year, long-term carer's contributions are available to those who care for 20 years or more for incapacitated carees. These carers are predominately women. The contributions provide the equivalent of a paid contribution for pension purposes to those who have provided full-time care to an incapacitated person for 20 or more years. This measure is helping more women qualify for the State Pension (Contributory) and increases the rate of payment for some who already qualify.

I acknowledge that there is still a significant gender gap in occupational and private pensions. This is primarily as a result of lower labour market participation throughout the years because of traditional caring responsibilities of women. It is anticipated that the introduction of the auto-enrolment scheme by my Department will lead to increased pension coverage especially for women.