Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I do not propose to accept the amendment. As I already indicated, the PRSI ceiling for ordinary employees has been raised significantly, thus enhancing the nature of the social insurance scheme. It is important that the scheme should have this element of fairness, as the Deputy argued. An interesting recent review of the social insurance fund indicated that it is those on lower incomes who obtain the best value from the PRSI scheme, making just over one third of contributions but enjoying two thirds of the benefits. It is important that people on higher incomes continue to receive value for their contributions. The PRSI scheme remains under review.

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