S.I. No. 18/1989:

SOCIAL WELFARE (MISCELLANEOUS SOCIAL INSURANCE PROVISIONS) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1989.

SOCIAL WELFARE (MISCELLANEOUS SOCIAL INSURANCE PROVISIONS) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1989.

The Minister for Social Welfare, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 3 and 79 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1981 (No. 1 of 1981 ) (as amended by the Social Welfare Act, 1988 (No. 7 of 1988)), hereby makes the following Regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Social Insurance Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations, 1989.

2. The Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Social Insurance Provisions) Regulations, 1988 ( S.I. No. 263 of 1988 ) are hereby amended by the substitution for article 4 of the following article:

"4. In the case of a person who became an employed contributor paying employment contributions reckonable for the purposes of entitlement to old age (contributory) pension at the time of and as a consequence of the coming into operation of section 12 of the Act of 1973 having earlier ceased to be an employed contributor and who would be entitled to old age (contributory) pension but for the fact that the relevant contribution condition set out in subsection (1) (c) of section 79 of the Act of 1981, is not satisfied, and that the person is not entitled to pension under regulations made in exercise of the power conferred by subsection (7) of the said section, the following provisions shall apply:--

( a ) where the average number of contributions paid in respect of or credited to the person per contribution year in the relevant period is less than twenty but not less than five, he shall be entitled to old age (contributory) pension,

( b ) where the average number of such contributions is a number included in one of the groups of numbers specified in the first column of Schedule A to these Regulations, fractions of whole numbers being disregarded, the old age (contributory) pension shall be payable at the appropriate weekly rate shown opposite to that group of numbers in the second column of the said Schedule,

( c ) any increase of pension payable under subsections (1) or (2) of section 81 of the Act of 1981, shall be the same as if the contribution condition set out in subsection (1) (c) of section 79 of the said Act had been fully satisfied.".

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Social Welfare this 2nd day

of February, 1989.

MICHAEL WOODS,

Minister for Social Welfare.

The Minister for Finance hereby sanctions the foregoing Regulations.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Finance this 2nd day

of February, 1989.

ALBERT REYNOLDS,

Minister for Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

The Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Social Insurance Provisions) Regulations, 1988 (S.I. 263 of 1988) were intended to provide entitlement under powers given in the Social Welfare Act, 1988 (No. 7 of 1988) to old age (contributory) pensions on a pro-rata basis to certain persons who became insurable for pensions on the abolition of the social insurance remuneration limit in April 1974 but who failed to qualify for pension subsequently due to gaps in their earlier insurance record caused by the operation of that limit.

These Regulations remedy a defect in the 1988 Regulations in that those Regulations conferred entitlement to pensions on categories of persons other than those for whom they were intended.