Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Department's scope insurability section is responsible for making those statutory decisions on insurability employment under the Social Welfare Act. While the Deputy might be concerned about its capacity and workload, it certainly does not have a problem looking at the instances that are being brought to its attention. The insurability decisions are based on evidence that is provided, including the report from the social welfare inspector who goes out and sees the business where appropriate, and case law from previous court judgments. I will do a public awareness campaign this year because I am quite sure a very large number of self-employed people or people who think they are mismatched within the PRSI system do not even know about scope. We have a body of work to do to let them know what it is and what it can do for them. Any worker who has concerns about his or her employment or social insurance status should contact my Department and scope will kick in and take care of the matter. As I said, the Social Welfare Act is so robust it allows us to go back and recoup social insurance contributions that should have been made from the time the employment started, whether it was disguised or not disguised. The independent scope division will make that decision.

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