Originally from US, working in Ireland for 4 years, how long before entitled to COAP?

[mcmenad]

I returned to Ireland from US and have been in permenant full time employment for almost 4 years. I was wondering how long one must contribute into the system before one is entitled to a state pension.

 

[Ann1]

Re: State pension

If you reach pension age on or after April 6 2012, you will need to have 520 paid contributions (10 years paid contributions) to qualify for a contributory pension. In general a contributory pension is calculated from the first day you commence work in Ireland until the date you receive your pension (66Years of age). Say you commenced work aged 50 and finish work at 66 you have paid 10 years so you qualify. You then require an average of 48 contributions for each of those years to receive a full pension. If you have worked in Ireland previously it gets more complicated to work out the yearly average.