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

I thank the Deputy for his question. The treatment benefit scheme was made available to self-employed contributors for the first time from 27 March 2017. The benefits available at that time, which were free dental and optical exams and a contribution towards hearing aids, were extended to self-employed people. Between self-employed contributors and their dependent spouses, those changes have added 450,000 customers to the scheme, which I think is absolutely deadly.

The additional optical and dental treatments were introduced at the end of October 2017. We have seen a surge in uptake from the customers, with the new dental cleaning and supply or repair of glasses being particularly popular. Consequently, more than 330,000 claims have been processed and paid in the three months from November 2017 to January 2018. This represents a fourfold increase on the same period a year ago.

It is not possible to identify treatment benefit claims from the self-employed without significant analysis and development work, as the Department does not record this information under separate pay-related social insurance, PRSI, classes. We do not ask when a service use appears whether he or she is employed or self-employed. However, the increase in claim numbers around the period of extending these benefits is a good indicator of the interest in them from the self-employed community and their spouses.

Entitlement to invalidity pension was also extended to the self-employed from December 2017.

The actuarial review of the Social Insurance Fund, which I published in October 2017, will play an important role in informing the overall debate on policy developments on the Social Insurance Fund, including its financial sustainability and the consideration of extending benefits for workers generally, including to the self-employed. The actuarial review concluded that self-employed PRSI contributors already get excellent value for money and provided costings for the extension of additional benefits to self-employed people.

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