John McGuinness
Question:390. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Social Protection if a history of contributions will be provided for a person (details supplied). [2583/24]
View answerTuesday, 23 January 2024
Questions (390)
Written answers
A copy of the contribution history record for the person concerned has issued directly to them. Recently, the person concerned has made an application for Invalidity Pension (IP) which has been refused as they did not satisfy the contribution conditions for the scheme.
IP is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and for no other reason and who satisfy certain Social Insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions.
Claimants must have at least 260 (5 years) paid PRSI contributions class (A, E, H or S) since entering social insurance and 48 contributions paid or credited in the last or second last complete contribution year before the relevant date of their Invalidity Pension claim.
The relevant date is:
(a) any date after the completion of one year of continuous incapacity for work, or
(b) any lesser period that may be prescribed, subject to the conditions and in the circumstances that may be prescribed where the insured person has entered into a continuous period of incapacity for work and he or she is subsequently proved to be permanently incapable of work.
An application for IP was received from the person on 18 December 2023. It was decided that the relevant year in his case is 2019. According to the Department’s records, the individual concerned has zero contributions paid in the relevant contribution period (2017 & 2018). As he does not have the required contributions at Class A, E, H or S in either of the 2 years immediately prior to the relevant date his application was refused on 17 January 2024 on the grounds that the qualifying contribution conditions for IP were not met.
The person in question was notified of the decision on 17 January 2024 and of their right to request a review and/or to appeal the decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO) within 21 days. If the person concerned has additional contributions that have not been applied to his record, he should rectified this with the Revenue Commissioners. The Department can then review his application for IP in light of any additional contributions paid.
I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.