Seán Barrett
Question:41 Mr. Barrett asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason a person (details supplied) in County Dublin does not qualify for maternity benefit.
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Payments.
There is no trace of a claim for maternity benefit having been received from the person concerned. A claim form has now been issued to her.
One of the qualifying conditions for Maternity Benefit is that a person needs to have at least 39 PRSI contributions at Class A or Class H in the 12 months immediately before the first day of maternity leave.
Alternatively, a person can qualify if she has 39 Class A or Class H contributions since her entry into insurance and also has at least 39 such contributions paid or credited in the governing contribution years. This would be either the 1991-92 or 1992-93 tax year in this case, depending on the date of confinement.
According to my Department's records, the person concerned paid Class A contributions as an employed contributor up to 1991 when she commenced paying Class S contributions in respect of self-employment. In the year 1991/92 she has a record of 26 Class A and 26 Class S contributions. In 1992/93 she has a record of 52 Class S contributions.
Class S contributions are not reckonable for Maternity Benefit purposes, so on the basis of her insurance record she would not appear to satisfy the contribution conditions. Moreover, as the Maternity Benefit Scheme applies only to women working for an employer, she would be ruled out on this ground also if she is still self-employed.
Ivan Yates
Question:42 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will amend the regulations relating to unemployment benefit so that persons who make a very short claim for such benefit due to being temporarily unemployed will not be disallowed on the first three days of their claim; and if, in view of cases like a person (details supplied) in County Wexford, their full claim will be allowed.
Under the legislation relating to Unemployment Benefit a claimant is not paid for the first three days of unemployment, unless he has had a previous claim within the preceding 13 weeks. Waiting days for which no payment is made at the commencement of a claim are a feature of social security systems in many countries.
A reduction in waiting days or their abolition would have financial implications which could only be considered in a budgetary context.
Ivan Yates
Question:43 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he has any proposals to provide contributory pensions for self-employed persons who had been paying the appropriate rate of PRSI for the self-employed when it was introduced but who were over 56 years at the time and had insufficient contributions to be entitled to a pension; if he has any proposals to assist this particular sector now coming to pension age; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
To qualify for the Old Age Contributory Pension, a person must have entered insurance at least 10 years before pension age. This condition has been a feature of the scheme since it was introduced in 1961 and applied to self employed people in the same way as it applies to all insured people. Self employed people who became insured for the first time when social insurance was extended to the self employed in 1988 and who were then aged 56 or over would not qualify for the Old Age Contributory Pension.
Detailed consideration was given to the possibility of providing for entitlement to the Old Age Contributory Pension to people who entered insurance for the first time as self employed contributors less than 10 years before pension age. It was estimated that the net cost of paying Old Age Contributory Pensions to all self employed contributors who were aged between 56 and 66 in April 1988 would amount to £765 million over the lifetime of the group of people concerned. The additional contribution which would need to be paid by self employed contributors generally to finance such an extension would be 2.4 per cent over a 50 year period.
The contribution conditions for entitlement to pensions are being examined by the National Pensions Board and they will be reporting on this and other issues in their final report which is expected shortly.
Frances Fitzgerald
Question:44 Ms F. Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason a person (details supplied) in Dublin 6, who is on long term unemployment assistance, has been refused dental benefit from his Department; whether this person has sufficient PRSI contributions; and the steps, if any, this person can take to secure the dental treatment he has been advised to have.
One of the conditions of the Department's scheme is that a person is required to have a total of 260 paid PRSI contributions on his or her insurance record. The person must also have been insurable under contribution Classes A or H.
The person concerned has 223 Class A paid contributions. All other paid contributions were at a rate which are not reckonable for entitlement to Dental Benefit. The person does not therefore qualify for this Benefit at present. If however, he is currently the holder of a medical card, he will be eligible to receive dental treatment at his local Health Board Clinic.