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Social Welfare Benefits.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 February 2004

Wednesday, 11 February 2004

Questions (241, 242, 243, 244)

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

306 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she intends to improve the dental benefit scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4364/04]

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Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

307 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she has plans to improve the optical benefit scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4365/04]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 306 and 307 together.

The treatment benefit scheme provides a range of benefits in the areas of dental, optical and aural treatment for qualified PRSI contributors and their dependent spouses where appropriate. The operation of the schemes is subject to ongoing monitoring by my Department and the question of further improvements would be a matter for consideration in a budgetary context and in the light of available resources. There are no immediate plans for changes to either the dental or optical benefit scheme.

Question No. 308 answered with QuestionNo. 96.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

309 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she has plans to extend the free telephone rental allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4367/04]

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The free schemes, including the electricity/gas allowance, telephone allowance and free television licence schemes, are generally available to people living in the State, aged 66 years or over, who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who meet the conditions of a means test. They are also available to all people aged 70 years and over, to carers and to people with disabilities under the age of 66 who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments. Widows and widowers aged from 60 to 65 whose late spouses had been in receipt of free schemes retain that entitlement to ensure that households do not suffer a loss of entitlement following the death of a spouse.

The telephone allowance scheme is provided as a cash credit to the value of €24.70 monthly, including VAT. To facilitate competition in the market, a hub operator system has been developed in consultation with my Department and the Commission for Telecommunications Regulation, ComReg, to facilitate the participation of other land line operators and mobile phone operators in the scheme. The current arrangements for the free schemes, including the telephone allowance, will be kept under review in the context of future budgets and available resources.

Question No. 310 answered with QuestionNo. 84.
Question No. 311 answered with QuestionNo. 96.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

312 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she can identify means of expediting the processing of applications for entitlements where contributions from one or more countries are involved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4370/04]

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My Department has bilateral social security agreements with Austria, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the USA, Switzerland and Quebec. EU regulations govern arrangements with other EU member states.

In 2002, as part of a review of the implementation of EU and bilateral arrangements, my Department examined the time taken to have social insurance records made available. The results indicated that my Department is not experiencing difficulty with any one country at this point in time. However, the situation is being monitored and further action will be taken if circumstances warrant it.

Most applications for short-term claims where contributions from one or more countries are involved, require a person's record for a single "governing contribution year", for example, for claims beginning after 1 January 2004 a person's 2002 contribution record would be required. In general these claims are dealt with in a reasonable length of time. For a long-term claim, since applications are based on a combination of Irish insurance contributions and contributions from another country, the process takes longer than normal for a variety of reasons.

Entitlement to a standard rate pension must first be determined. Where there is no such entitlement, the applications are then considered in the context of any EU contributions they may have. These cases are more complex than standard cases and involve checking insurance records from various sources. In cases where employment contributions have been made outside EU countries, entitlement may have to be tested under more than one agreement. In all cases the over-riding consideration is to ensure that customers receive their correct entitlement and, accordingly, decisions cannot be taken until all appropriate information is received and clarified. Delays in processing applications do not result in any losses to pensioners, the majority of whom are already in receipt of a basic pension. Those who qualify for additional payment on the basis of contributions in other countries have their claims backdated in accordance with the appropriate provisions.

This Department is currently participating in the work of the EU technical commission on data processing for the administrative commission on social security for migrant workers. The main objective of the technical commission is to monitor and initiate projects aimed at simplifying administrative procedures in order to improve arrangements for the acquisition of rights and the award and payment of social security benefits. Officials from my Department are currently involved in a working group to draw up a plan of action for data exchange, to identify any obstacles to progress, both technical and administrative, and to propose measures to progress this work, including financial aspects. It is expected that a plan of action will be presented to the administrative commission before the end of 2005.

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