Hundreds of pensioners who paid PRSI when they were self-employed but received no benefit are still waiting for the Government to decide on their cases, six months after a report said they should be awarded a reduced contributory pension.
Age Action Ireland yesterday contrasted the lack of progress on their claims with the speed with which the Government moved to resolve the pension difficulties of former minister Dr Michael Woods. It pointed out that the 500 or so people affected were elderly and called on the Department of Social and Family Affairs to address the issue promptly.
Last April, the Irish Human Rights Commission urged the Government to pay partial pensions and make retrospective ex-gratia awards to self-employed people who were denied the pension because they were too old to accumulate sufficient insurance stamps at the time social welfare legislation was changed.
Its report concerned JJ and Sarah Gallagher, a Co Donegal couple who ran a small business before retiring. He was just a few months short in contributions to qualify for a contributory pension and would have qualified if it had been legally possible to credit him with his wife's contributions.
Since the Government changed legislation to ensure Dr Woods qualified for a full ministerial pension, a number of retired self-employed people have contacted The Irish Timesover the department's failure to act.
A doctor's wife in Munster said she was denied a pension because her late husband, a doctor, was too old to accumulate sufficient PRSI. "He practised as a GP on call day and night and was the physician in the local infirmary where patients were treated 'free' regardless of income. When the hospital was closed by the government in 1987 he was informed he was not entitled to a pension from the government as he was an 'honorary' physician."
The woman herself was refused a pension in her own right as her contributions, which began in 1953, ended in 1962 when she got married.
The department said that at the time pension regulations were changed in 1999, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) confirmed that Ireland had met its obligations under its social security code. A spokeswoman said the ILO had given the department an informal opinion which was at variance with the findings of the Irish Human Rights Commission, and the department had now asked for a formal review.
