Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In a peculiar way this has something to do with me in respect of the equality area. However, it is a social protection matter and I am taking it on behalf of the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton.

Maternity benefit is a payment made for 26 weeks to employed and self-employed pregnant women who satisfy certain PRSI contribution conditions on their insurance record to obviate the need for them to work pre- and post-delivery of their baby.

The original scheme was introduced in 1970 and was extended to include self-employed mothers with effect from June 1997. This year, it is estimated that there will be a weekly average of 22,000 recipients of maternity benefit at a cost of €263.5 million. The main provisions relating to maternity benefit are contained in the Maternity Protection Acts 1994 and 2004, chapter 9 of Part II of Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005 and chapter 2 of Part II of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Claims, Payments and Control) Regulations 2007, as amended.

To qualify for maternity benefit as a self-employed person a woman must be in insurable self-employment. This means she must have sufficient earnings in the year of her confinement to be liable to pay income tax and PRSI. The current threshold for payment of income tax and PRSI is €5,000 per annum. In addition to being in insurable self-employment the woman must also satisfy one of a number of PRSI contribution conditions. She must either have 52 qualifying PRSI contributions paid in the relevant tax year or have 52 qualifying contributions paid in the tax year prior to the relevant tax year or have 52 qualifying contributions paid in the tax year following the relevant tax year. It is not a requirement that this three-year period be the three years immediately preceding confinement.

Self-employment contributions, Class S PRSI, are not awarded for any particular year until all liabilities for that year are paid. It is incorrect to state that benefit is not paid to a self-employed woman where her child is born within the first six months of the year. I accept the Senator did not make such a statement. Where a woman has recently set up as a self-employed person or historically has earnings from self-employment below the €5,000 threshold, it may not be possible for her to qualify for payment until such time as her reckonable income and Class S liability for the year in question can be confirmed. In such instances, the Department can review the insurable status of the woman after she files her tax return to the Office of the Revenue Commissioners for the year in question.

In cases where the Department finds that a self-employed customer has a record of earnings in excess of €5,000 in previous years and has an expected due date early in the tax year, that is, within the first 16 weeks, her earnings in the previous year, if greater than €5,000, can be used as confirmation of her insurable status. All applications for maternity benefit from self-employed women are processed on a case by case basis and every effort is made to qualify the customer for payment, where possible, and in accordance with legislative provisions. The Minister for Social Protection is, therefore, satisfied that current procedures in relation to the processing of maternity benefit claims in respect of self-employed women are fair and appropriate. I accept, however, that the Senator did not claim that the procedures are unfair or inappropriate. I hope the element that applies in respect of the previous year's income and returns for a woman whose due date is within the first 16 weeks addresses the issue raised.