Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

On amendment No. 6, to qualify for a social insurance payment a person must fulfil all the relevant conditions, including the social insurance contribution conditions relating to the particular benefit being claimed. These contributions rules exist to preserve a fair balance between the contributions paid and benefits received.

Certain principles are required when setting equitable contribution conditions, the first of which is that the claimant's record of contributions should be sufficient in terms of his or her initial establishment in the scheme and in terms of consistency. Another principle is that there should be a difference in the rules that apply depending on whether the candidate is claiming a short-term or long-term benefit. In the case of the latter, where a person is drawing heavily on the social insurance fund, it has been considered appropriate that the test be more stringent. At a time of very low employment and higher participation rates, it is not unreasonable to increase the minimum lifetime contribution record by 13 weeks. The measure strengthens the contributory principle in the social insurance system.

Short-term benefits such as disability benefit, unemployment benefit and health and safety benefit require the claimant to have paid a minimum number of contributions since first starting work and to demonstrate a recent attachment to the workforce by having a minimum number of contributions in a recent tax year.

We have not identified any obvious hardship but will address it if we do. In this regard, we are keeping all the measures under constant review. Claimants who now fail to qualify for a certain benefit can, depending on their means, qualify for a supplementary welfare allowance or unemployment assistance. It is also worth noting that employees can amass 52 contributions from a very limited attachment to the workforce. A contribution is awarded where earnings are as low as €38 per week, which would be earned in just over five hours if one were earning the national minimum wage. The employee does not pay a contribution and the total contribution by the employer is €3.23 at that level of earnings. Therefore, attracting a contribution is not very onerous.

On amendment No. 7, before the Social Welfare Act 2003, unemployment benefit was payable at the full rate for a maximum of 390 days, or 15 months. Effectively, the unemployment benefit scheme provided the same cover for periods of short-term unemployment, regardless of the number of paid contributions, subject to the minimum contribution conditions. For example, the same rate and duration of payment applied where a claimant had been in the workforce for either one year or 20 years. This was not the case in respect of disability benefit, regarding which the maximum duration of payment for persons with less than 260 contributions was one year.

The measure introduced last year brought the treatment of unemployment benefit more into line with the treatment of disability benefit in this respect. It was an equalisation measure, it supported the contributory principle of the social insurance fund and acknowledged that those with a longer employment record should be afforded more favourable treatment by way of extended entitlements. The measure was estimated to affect approximately 700 recipients per week in 2004 and is estimated to affect 2,500 in both 2005 and 2006. The estimated net saving amounted to approximately €5 million in 2004 and will amount of €14.8 million in both 2005 and 2006.