A couple of points:
- for you, the State Pension will start at age 67, not 66.
- in 2020 it is proposed to change the calculation basis for the State Pension. The details are not yet finalized, but it is understood that the calculation basis will be 1/40th of the State Pension for each year of contribution. So if you will have 18 or 19 years contributions then you might expect almost a 50% Pension.
- if the above goes ahead, there may be a phased in approach, so that individuals might get the higher of the above or the current “totals and averages” for a period. But no guarantee on this yet as we are still awaiting the precise details of how the new proposed system will work.
- if the current “totals and averages” calculation were to apply, you might fall into the 20 to 29 average A Class contributions over your working lifetime (total number of weekly A contributions divided by the number of years you were in the PRSI system - whether A or D). If so this would give you an 85% State Pension.
So if you were to make voluntary contributions it might only add 1/40th for each year you contribute. Alternatively if the additional contributions did not push up your average to a higher band (up to say an average of 30+ , getting you into a 90% level) it might not be worthwhile. Perhaps that might become clearer after we see what is going to happen from 2020. I think there is a Government paper due on the future of the State Pension sometime over the next 2/3 months.
I hope this helps.