Submission 298
May 08
Green Paper Submission
I am a woman. I am sixty years old and I am single. I am not entitled to a contributory old age pension. This is my story.
I worked in the public service in 1966, then I inherited my parent’s farm. I have been a carer for years, first caring for my father and then my mother. It was not an easy decision to give up work in the public service and care for my parents. But in those days you didn’t think twice, it was something you just did.
I applied for the carers allowance on a number of occasions and was refused. In 1988 I was successful in getting the carers allowance. This was the last year of my father’s life.
As well as running the farm, I cared for my mother until she died in 1991. I continued to work on the farm continuously trying to secure my future in relation to a State Pension. The Government provided a scheme for farmers to ensure they would qualify for the contributory pension. This depended on your age or the amount of land you had. If you had qualified for this scheme it meant you could pay £120 per year. I didn’t qualify at the time.
My work on the farm is physical hard work, looking after the animals and their every need, to basic management of the farm and ensuring all accounts are up to date.
In 1989 the government brought in a voluntary contribution scheme which meant you could pay for your own credit. Again my income was not enough and I was excluded from making a contribution.
In 1992, I applied for Farm Assistance and got it. I am still continuing to apply to make voluntary contributions, my last application was May of 2007 and I still haven’t heard anything. I feel totally excluded, I feel it is my right to decide if I can afford to make this voluntary contribution not a civil servant in an office. My situation means that when I’m sixty six years old, I will be means tested for a non-contributory pension. I cannot hand over my farm to a relative in order to secure a State Pension. This is allowed but only in certain circumstances.
My concerns and worries are that as I get older how will I manage the farm, I won’t be in a position to continue to run the farm. Farm work is very isolating and tiredness is built into farming. I live from day to day.
My long search for security in my later years has left me feeling frustrated with the Social Welfare system. I feel unvalued by the State for all the years I’ve given to caring, we were unpaid workers who took care of parents. We saved the State a lot of money.
I want to see major changes in the Social Welfare System, those of us who were denied voluntary contributions should be credited for all the years we spent caring for others.
I would like to see the language used within the Social Welfare system changed, words such as "Disregards" and "Adult Dependants" these are negative terms. I am angry that my role as a wife and mother is not recognised as important in Irish society. I believe women should be credited for the years spent as homemakers.
