Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It would be good if the option to make voluntary contributions were open to those who had been paying class K contributions if they cannot get their class K contributions recognised.

Another issue relates to the lacunae that exist between Departments. For example, the Department of Education and Skills recognises that a person not involved in teaching between the period of June and September does not have a break in service.However, the Department of Social Protection recognises the period as a break in service when considering entitlement to class D PRSI. As a result, a number of people in the education sector have been ruled ineligible for class D and have been forced to pay class A PRSI. What difference does it make? The difference is very simple. I have always believed there was a problem with the change introduced in 1995 where half of the public service pension was paid from the Department of Social Protection. That problem has raised its ugly head in the not so distant past where a person living in the North of Ireland retired from a public service job in the South, was under the age of 65, and was not being given their supplementary pension because they were not domiciled in the State. The move in 1995 to change the public service pension had a significant impact on the entitlements of public servants, which is far more than we were led to believe at the time. There is a serious problem with it. When we talk about backdating and looking at things, we need to try to iron out some of the anomalies that exist and ensure that everybody is treated the same. The Minister is trying to do that and I thank him. I may have bounced this matter on him so he may not be fully up to speed on what I am talking about, but we can discuss it further if necessary.