The person concerned reached 65 years of age on 9 July and submitted an application for retirement pension on 19 March. He does not qualify for a retirement pension as he does not satisfy the statutory qualifying conditions requiring him to have the following: a yearly average of at least 24 contributions paid or credited since 1953 or year of entry into insurance if later, up to the end of the last complete tax year before reaching age 65, and a minimum of 260 full rate employment contributions paid since commencing to pay social insurance.
According to my Department's records, the person concerned has a yearly average of 19 over the requisite period and a total of 228 paid employment contributions. His application was refused and he was notified of his right of appeal on 18 July. Had the person concerned reached age 66 between January and April he would have had a yearly average of 19 for old age contributory pension purposes. He would also have been required to have had at least 260 paid employment contributions to qualify for pension.
The person concerned will reach age 66 on 9 July 2003. While he will satisfy the average test for a reduced old age contributory pension with an average of 20, he would require a further 32 full rate paid contributions to qualify for pension.