The government of the Republic of Moldova on Wednesday 21 October 2026 approved a draft decision on starting negotiations and authorizing the signing of a social security agreement with Ireland. The item is on the 10:00 cabinet agenda as unique number 976/MMPS/MAE/2026. This is a decision to open talks and to authorize a signature, not a treaty already signed and not pensions that start today.

MOLDPRES says the document will set common rules to coordinate the two social security systems, so people who work or have worked in both countries, especially migrant workers, can receive the benefits listed. Those include old-age pensions, disability pensions from a general condition, pensions and allowances after workplace accidents or occupational diseases, and survivors’ pensions.

Labour and social protection minister Natalia Plugaru said about 30,000 Moldovan citizens live in Ireland and that many contribute there to the social security system. That figure is about the diaspora, not a count of pension files opened today. She said she hopes the agreement can be signed in November.

Insurance periods completed in the two states would be combined to meet the conditions for benefits. Each country would calculate and pay the share that matches periods completed under its own law. That is not a single pension paid in full by Chișinău or by Dublin.

Talks will be coordinated by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection. After signature, the agreement goes to Parliament for ratification. Until then, the rights in the draft are not in force.

So far Moldova has concluded 23 social security agreements, 19 of them applicable when benefits are determined. The Ireland draft joins that list only after signature, ratification and entry into force.

The published draft decision is countersigned by deputy prime minister Mihail Popșoi and minister Plugaru; the template names Vasile Tofan as prime minister. This sitting is not a Romanian cabinet story and not a planned Kyiv visit.

Headlines that say Moldovans “will be able to receive pensions” describe a future effect of an agreement still at the start of talks. Wednesday’s closed fact remains the approval to negotiate and to sign, with a hoped-for signature in November.

Image: Diego Delso, Government House, Chisinau, 3 November 2023, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; archive, not the sitting of 21 October 2026.

Sources consulted: Moldovenii care au muncit in Irlanda vor putea beneficia de pensii pentru anii lucrati in ambele tari - Ziar.md; Republic of Moldova to conclude social security agreement with Ireland - MOLDPRES.