Ollie Crowe (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To be clear, my understanding is that the Department issued a statement in early February that everybody between 65 and 66 years of age would be eligible for the payment. Can the Minister of State confirm now that this is not the case and that they must have 13 weeks of paid PRSI contributions in the year they reach 63 or 64 to qualify for the benefit because if they are signing for the credits, they do not count?

Can the Minister of State tell the House the number of people this will impact and is he able to give the breakdown in terms of male and female? This is a huge issue in Galway West that has been raised with me because there are concerns with regard to people's entitlements. I thank the Minister of State for his time.