Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 390: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of self employed people who failed to qualify for a contributory pension who would have paid PRSI for a few years after the commencement of the PRSI scheme for self employed; the number of people who have received refunds of their PRSI as a result of their failure to qualify for a contributory old age pension; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27592/06]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 397: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will state the steps his Department have taken to inform people who paid PRSI but failed to qualify for contributory old age pension that they are entitled to a refund of their contributions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27694/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 390 and 397 together.

Pay related social insurance (PRSI) was extended to self employed people from 6th April 1988, as class S PRSI. Class S benefits cover Widow or Widower's Contributory Pension, Orphan's Contributory Allowance, Old Age Contributory Pension, Maternity Benefit, Adoptive Benefit, Bereavement Grant and Old Age Contributory Pension. In the case of old age contributory pension, a person must satisfy certain qualifying conditions. These conditions include that a person must have: (1) entered into insurable employment before age 56; (2) at least 260 weeks full-rate contributions paid; (3) a yearly average of at least 10 contributions recorded (taking paid and credited PRSI Contributions into account) from 1953 or from the date of entry into insurance (whichever is the later) to the end of the last complete contribution year before reaching pension age, in order to qualify for the maximum rate a yearly average of 48 contributions is required; and (4) paid all liabilities to the Revenue Commissioners in respect of PRSI.

For pension qualification purposes, class S self employment contributions are treated like any other full rate social insurance. The statistics available relate to the numbers of people who fail to qualify on the general grounds listed above. These general reasons do not identify people by reference to their class of employment, and accordingly, the specific statistics requested cannot be supplied.

With regard to class S refunds, a 53% pension element refund of PRSI paid by self-employed contributors may be payable where:

∙the contributor was aged 56 or over when they paid class S PRSI for the first time and were not insured at an earlier date as an employee, and the contributor does not have an entitlement to either a contributory or a non contributory pension, and

∙the contributor has no outstanding liability with the Revenue Commissioners.

To date, 3,412 such refunds have issued from my Department.

Information on PRSI Refunds is available from my Departments PRSI Refund Section, 2/3 Parnell Square East, Dublin 1 or from the Self Employment and Voluntary Contributions Section, Social Welfare Services, Cork Road, Waterford and from the Department's Freedom of Information (FOI) guidelines which is available on the website, www.welfare.ie and in the Information Leaflet SW 74. A copy of the guidelines in this regard was recently forwarded to the Deputy.

Where a self-employed person is refused an old age contributory pension, they are normally advised to contact the Revenue Commissioners to establish their correct PRSI liability for the period of their self employment. They are also given the option of applying for an old age non contributory pension.