Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will come to that. The difficulty I have encountered is that when people reach 66 years of age and claim their State pension the exact amount of their contributions can rule them in or out for the contributory pension. It is absolutely crucial that what the Revenue Commissioners collect tallies with the number of contributions people believe they should have because if it does not, they can lose their entitlement to the State contributory pension. I tabled a parliamentary question on this subject in the last week or two and I received a letter in reply. I am sure the question was withdrawn once I received a satisfactory letter. However, the letter stated that the Revenue Commissioners collect PRSI on the Department's behalf but they can only collect it for a full year. They cannot collect it for part of a year. That means that in the year the person joins the scheme the Revenue Commissioners collect it for the full year, which is 52 weeks. Let us say somebody is coming to their retirement birthday, it is their last year in the scheme and they might have two weeks or 48 weeks in the last year before they reach their birthday. The Revenue Commissioners cannot collect that because it is not for a full year. People can lose their entire entitlement to the State contributory pension because, as the Department told me in writing, the Revenue Commissioners can only collect PRSI for a full year, which is 52 contributions. It specifically stated that they cannot collect it for part of a year. I want a detailed note on that because people can lose their entire entitlement on this basis. Do you understand my question?