Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will come back to the Senator with confirmation on the local authority members. My understanding is that if somebody is a local authority member and went full-time as a councillor in the last five years but prior to that was paying PRSI as part of their farm income, self-employment or as an employee, they are able to make voluntary contributions. I will have to double check that. By putting Senator Higgins's proposal into regulation, anyone who had not made a credited contribution within the past five years would be able to make voluntary contributions. Let me check that before the Senator writes out to councillors telling them in case I am mistaken.