Ray Butler (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to address the mystery of the stamp people pay through the social protection system. From time to time, we all get our P45s and P60s. You would need to be Mystic Meg to look into the corner to see the little section that might be lightly glazed over with a piece of ink and marked class K or class S stamp or whatever class of stamp you pay. However, that piece of paper does not tell someone what their stamp entitles them to. Down through the years, there has been so much confusion with the self-employed. When we had the debate on the Social Welfare Bill yesterday, Senator Norris asked about pensions for the self-employed and whether the class S stamp covers that, which it does.It is the only thing it did at the time. There are so many people who really do not know what their stamp entitles them to. When they lose their job, have a disability or get into difficulty, they fill in forms in their social welfare office but could be waiting 12 to 26 weeks only to hear then that their stamp does not cover what they are looking for. We need a new system. Every document sent out by the Department of Social Protection should have written on it the stamp one is paying and what it entitles one to. This would be very simple and prevent a lot of confusion.

When I became a Member in 2011, I had paid a class S stamp as a self-employed person for 24 years. I did not know I was entering a new system in here. After 12 months, an accountant who was also a Deputy asked me whether I kept paying my class S stamp. I said I did not in the belief that it was being automatically taken from my wages. It was not; it was stopped. I had only six months in which to go to the Department of Social Protection to arrange to keep up the payment so it would not be gone. Unfortunately, I will lose the years in which I have been a Member when I seek my contributory pension. I would have had no problem paying the €550 per year had I known. There is a considerable issue owing to people not knowing what their stamp entitles them to. A new system has to be brought in through the Department of Social Protection. It would involve a simple measure. A P45, P60 or any other document from the Department of Social Protection should state exactly what stamp one is paying and what one is entitled to.