Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Class K PRSI is a tax on public service. That is the long and the short of it. One pays 4% and gets nothing for it. The Minister is on record as saying that nobody should pay for social insurance unless there is a benefit from it. It is a farce to say that Deputies, Senators and other people covered by class K PRSI cannot avail of a contributory old age pension. In my case I can make a voluntary contribution of €660 to maintain my contributory old age pension entitlement. The only thing covered is the old age pension, if I am not mistaken. The Minister is taxing public servants at 4%. If he wants to tax me for being a Senator, he should get the Minister for Finance to put a tax of 4% on the salaries of Members of the Dáil and Seanad into a Bill and I will pay it. I do not want a 4% rise. I do not want the social insurance system used as a tax so we can be saved blushes when we walk out the door and say we are paying PRSI too.At the end of the day, Senators and Deputies worth their salt are paying the voluntary contribution in order to maintain their entitlement to a contributory old age pension. We are only fooling ourselves and the public with this, but we are really not getting away with it. We should scrap class K PRSI and if the Government wants to charge a tax on Senators, Deputies, members of the Judiciary and the President, it should be honest about it and do it. The social insurance scheme should not be used to make a fool of the rest of us. It is not right in any way. It was a cheap shot in 2008 or 2011 to satisfy the blushes of Deputies and Senators, so they could look at the public and say they were paying their share into the Social Insurance Fund. Let us be honest that it is a nonsense. I know the Minister did not bring in this measure but he has the opportunity to get rid of it.