Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 150: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of people who are in receipt of disability benefit for each of the past ten years in raw numbers and also as a percentage of the workforce; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34709/07]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 151: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the way Ireland compares with other OECD countries in terms of the numbers of people on disability benefit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34710/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 150 and 151 together.

Illness Benefit, which was known as Disability Benefit prior to 2nd October 2006, is a payment for insured people who cannot work due to illness. Annual Statistics in relation to the number of recipients of Illness Benefit are published annually by my Department in the form of a report entitled Statistical Information on Social Welfare Services, which is available on request from my Department or at our website, www.welfare.ie . Statistics in relation to the Labour Force are available from the Central Statistics Office.

Illness Benefit is just one of a range of illness and disability related payments offered by my Department, each of which has different medical, social insurance and means related requirements. These requirements are tailored to the particular objectives of each scheme and also to the segments of the population for which they provide income support. Similarly, other OECD countries have illness and disability related schemes in place which have very different eligibility requirements and provide support to different categories of the population. For example, many OECD countries have statutory sick pay schemes in place which place a burden on the employer, whereas Ireland does not. Therefore, it is not appropriate to compare the number of recipients of Illness Benefit in Ireland with that of other OECD countries because those schemes do not have the same eligibility criteria and, therefore, no conclusions can be drawn from the results of any such comparison.