Long time lurker, first time poster.
Many thanks to DannyBoyD and others for all the time they have put into providing members of the forum with clarity on this issue.
I will need to make 20 more years worth of contributions in order to get the full pension and have 28 years left to do so.
So I do not need to buy back any years if I set up annual voluntary contributions going forward.
I left the UK March 2019, working in UK right up to the end, but did not start working back home until Sept 2019, so a few months of a gap there.
It would appear that if I wanted to make a 2019 voluntary contribution, that gap of a few months would mean my contribution would have to be class 3 for that year.
My two questions are;
Does that employment gap when I first relocated to Ireland in 2019 affect being assessed for class 2 now, ie simply starting to make contributions for 2024 onwards and not making up any previous shortfall in contributions? It seems that I satisfy the criteria; living and working abroad and worked in the UK right up to leaving, but I would appreciate reassurance on this before I submit the CF83 form.
And secondly, is there any advantage in buying back years even though I can attain full pension by simply making voluntary contributions annually for the next 20 years?
(I could buy back 10 further years between 2006 and now but I would rather not have to allocate the funds needed to do so unless there's a compelling reason to)
Many thanks