William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)
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613. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will consider extending eligibility for the State pension (Contributory) to long-serving public servants, including teachers and local authority workers, who paid class D PRSI for decades but now find themselves excluded from receiving the State pension; if he acknowledges the financial hardship faced by many of these retired individuals, whose occupational pensions are not sufficient to meet the rising cost of living, healthcare, home maintenance, and essential services; if he will provide a rationale for continuing to deny State pension access to those who contributed to the economy and infrastructure of the State over their working lives; and if he will commit to reviewing this policy in light of the State's current financial capacity and the potential economic benefit of redistributing this income into local communities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38768/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The State Pension (Contributory) is funded by the contributions paid into the Social Insurance Fund in contrast to a Public Service Pensions where the terms and conditions including pension entitlement are part of the employment contract. More broadly, matters relating to the pension entitlements of public servants, and the rates of these pensions and any increases, are a matter for the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation.

To qualify for the State Pension (Contributory), a person must have entered the social insurance system 10 years before they draw their State Pension (Contributory) and have paid a minimum of 520 qualifying contributions. Contributions paid at Classes B, C or D, i.e., those made by public servants recruited before 6 April 1995 are known as modified or reduced rate contributions and are not qualifying contributions for the State Pension (Contributory).

Those who paid a modified or reduced rate of PRSI receive coverage for widow(er)s and orphan's pensions, occupational injury benefit and various other benefits.

Consequently, such contributors pay less in social insurance contributions in return for fewer social insurance benefits. For example, Class D contributors currently pay a contribution at the rate of 1% on their weekly earnings up to €1,443 and 4.1% on weekly earnings over that amount, and their employers pay a contribution of 2.45% on all employee earnings.

In contrast, Class A contributors pay a contribution of 4.1% on their weekly earnings and their employers pay a contribution of 8.9% where employees' weekly earnings are €527 or less and 11.15% where their employees' weekly earnings exceed €527. Class A contributors have access to the full range of social insurance benefits.

As social insurance contributions are made in accordance with the legislation in force at the time they are made, there is no provision to retrospectively convert the class of social insurance to another class of social insurance or to facilitate contributors making additional payments to establish an entitlement to the State Pension (Contributory).

Where a person's contribution history does not give entitlement to the State Pension (Contributory), a person may instead qualify for one of the following:

• The means-tested State Pension (Non-Contributory) which is a means-tested payment with a maximum payment of 95% of the State Pension (Contributory); or
• An increase for a qualified adult, amounting up to 90% of a full rate State Pension (Contributory) where their spouse has a contributory pension; or
• Where their spouse/civil partner is deceased, a widow's/widower's/civil partner's contributory pension, which they may claim either based on their spouse's or their own social insurance record.