asked the Minister for Social Welfare if a person whose income has exceeded £1,600 for the past four years but who was paying social insurance from 1953 until then can now voluntarily opt into the social insurance scheme; and, if so, if he will be credited for the four years in which he was not having cards stamped.
Written Answers. - Social Insurance Scheme.
166.
Regulations provide that an application to become a voluntary contributor under the Social Welfare Acts shall be made by an insured person within 12 months after the end of the contribution year in which he ceases to be compulsorily insured or in which an employment contribution was credited to him. The Minister, having regard to the circumstances of a particular case, may allow a longer period.
It is also provided that a person who wishes to become a voluntary contributor shall elect to become such a contributor as from the beginning of the contribution week next following the contribution week in which he ceased to be insurably employed.
Accordingly, should the circumstances of any case to which the Deputy refers warrant an extension of the period of election, the person in question could pay contributions as a voluntary contributor in respect of the period from the date on which he ceased to be insurably employed. He would not, by virtue of becoming a voluntary contributor, qualify for credited contributions for that period.