Irish Times (27.05.2018) A consultation on the future of pensions and provision for retirement will be launched by Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty on Monday. It will help inform the design of a new approach to the State contributory pension from 2020. Under a new so-called total contributions approach (TCA), a person’s contributory pension will be proportionate to the contributions they make. The aim is that this should have fair regard for periods of child-rearing, full-time caring and periods in receipt of social protection payments.