Homemaker scheme pension review
Deputy Bríd Smith presses for a report on unfair pension treatment for women under the homemaker's scheme and asks for a stronger wealth-based approach. The Minister says a social insurance review is under way, with a total contribution model hoped for later.
Last November, when the Taoiseach was Minister for Social Protection, we had a lengthy debate about the new method of calculation of the contributory pension in what is known as the homemaker's scheme. I put an amendment to the Bill asking for a report within three months and what the Taoiseach was going to do to tackle the gross inequality to women under that scheme. They are women who reared their children in the 1970s and 1980s, right up until 1994, who got up early before the Taoiseach was born and did a very thorough job for the people of this country. They are now suffering a loss of between €19 and €30 a week. That is no small fry when one is living on an old age pension of the State, rather than the type of pension that Deputy Enda Kenny will leave this House with in the next few years. This discrimination is continuing unabated. There are now tens of thousands of women who are suffering discrimination because of it.
I ask the Taoiseach to please not tell me that if the inequality towards the women is ended, he is going to have to take it off somebody else who is a recipient of social welfare. How about using the EU average of PRSI contributions for those who earn over €100,000 a year and taking what the rest of Europe does for employers' contributions on PRSI? How about looking-----
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-----at a different kind of measure that tackles wealth rather than poverty?
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We are currently conducting a review of the social insurance fund and hope to have that information by the third quarter of this year to feed into a change of the model. The Deputy is right that there are obviously women of a particular age who are coming to retirement age now who are not included in that homemaker's scheme and are obviously losing out on a considerable amount of money every week. We hope to move to the total contribution model as practised by other European countries, but that is going to take a while. I know that dates have been put out referring to 2020 and 2021, but we will expedite it as soon as we have the information from the third quarter report from this year.
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My question is about a report that we were promised.
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The Minister did not answer the question. Could we please get an answer on when the report will be due? It is long overdue already.
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It is questions on promised legislation, not questions and answers. I am sure questions can be asked in the normal way.