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

I genuinely appreciate the divergence between the requirements for employed contributions paid at 39 class A contributions in the governing year, while we propose that there are 52 class S contributions for the same type of access to the scheme. The divergence simply reflects how self-employed people pay their PRSI contributions. We will never find anybody with a PRSI contribution of 39 weeks in a year. People either have 52 or they have none. Self-employed people pay their contributions in one go. They either have no contributions for the entire year, at which stage they can buy their contributions for the full year at a later date, or they will always have 52. Having 39 contributions is irrelevant, because it would never be the case. On that basis, the prescription in the legislation reflects the actual payments of social insurance contributions by those who are self-employed.

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