Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 218: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if a person (details supplied) in County Kildare is entitled to a grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44717/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The medical appliance benefit scheme currently offers assistance towards the cost of purchasing hearing aids. The Department will pay up to half the cost of a hearing aid or repairs to a hearing aid, subject to a fixed maximum contribution of €760 per aid. To qualify for this benefit a person must satisfy certain PRSI conditions. A person aged 66 or over must have a total of 260 paid PRSI contributions since first starting work and either 39 paid or credited PRSI contributions in either of the two relevant tax years on which the claim is based or 26 paid PRSI contributions in both the relevant tax year and the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year.

A person can also qualify for benefit on his/her spouse's or partner's PRSI record provided they satisfy the qualifying contribution conditions and is deemed to be dependent on the spouse partner. The person in question does not satisfy the PRSI requirements to qualify for benefit in her own right nor does she qualify as a dependant on her spouse's record. As a result she is not entitled to a hearing aid grant from this Department.