Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 1 May 1991

Vol. 407 No. 7

Written Answers. - DHSS Contribution Records.

Ruairí Quinn

Ceist:

69 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will make arrangements with the DHSS to enable people to request their contribution record for the time they worked in Britain; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that at present a person cannot do this; that his Department will only make a request for a British contributions record when a claim for benefit has been lodged here; that it takes a minimum of eight weeks for the record to be transferred from the DHSS during which time a person will not be paid social welfare benefit; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Social Welfare (Dr. Woods

Any person who wishes to get a copy of his/her insurance record from any social security institution throughout the European Communities is entitled to do so. I have approached the DHSS regarding this matter and they assure me that they issue such statements on demand.

On return to Ireland after a period of employment in the United Kingdom, a person can, under the provisions of EC Regulation 1408/71, have the contributions paid by him/her in the United Kingdom taken into account for unemployment benefit purposes in Ireland. However, before eligibility can be determined a copy of the United Kingdom insurance record must be attained. If the person concerned does not have a copy of the United Kingdom insurance record in their possession my Department request same from the DHSS.

The problems involved in transferring insurance records across various systems have been acknowledged by the European Commission. At present a working group has been set up to examine the possibility of establishing a computerised infrastructure between all member states, which would tackle all the communication needs in the social security area.

In the period during which my Department are awaiting a copy of the United Kingdom insurance record, the person concerned can pursue a claim to unemployment assistance or supplementary welfare allowance depending on his/her individual circumstances.