Pension Provisions
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-19
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Claire Kerrane (SF), Roscommon-Galway

I acknowledge what has been brought forward to improve things for foster carers but none of that will matter if someone is 62, 63 or 64, does not have enough contributions to access the State pension and is approaching 66, as quite a number of foster carers are. Again, it is not acceptable that a foster carer who has provided a loving home to some of our most vulnerable children would get to 66 and not have a State pension. It is wholly unacceptable and it needs to be dealt with quickly. I have repeatedly said the pension solution brought forward for family carers has really worked. It was worked on, achieved and delivered and I welcomed it at the time. That could be done for foster carers because, again, we are looking at people who have some, if not nearly all, of the 520 contributions but there is a gap for a lot of them, as was the case for family carers, so I believe that through using that solution, this can be done a lot more quickly. It needs to be, so I ask that this specific solution be looked at.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:40+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-19