Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-28
============================================================

Ivana Bacik (LAB), Dublin Bay South

Carers do incredible work out of love and in service to our State, but they continue to face penalties despite the invaluable work they do. I have heard heartbreaking testimony from carers across the State, overwhelmingly women, who are now living on the bread line after providing years of unpaid care. I want to raise a specific issue, namely pensions. I have heard from women carers who stepped outside the paid workforce to carry out care. They feel hoodwinked now because nobody explained to them their care-related credited contributions would not qualify for the contributory State pension. Having missed out on a salary during the period of care, they have also forfeited a pension.
There is a 2024 recommendation from the joint committee on social protection to treat all care-related credited contributions as the same value as paid contributions in the context of pension eligibility. The Minister is here with the Taoiseach. I am looking for a response, if not immediately then perhaps from the Minister in writing. I will forward the specific query, which is an important one for carers.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-28