Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

167. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding an application for an invalidity pension for a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21305/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Invalidity pension (IP) is a payment for people who are permanently incapable of work because of illness or incapacity and who satisfy the pay related social insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions.

To qualify for IP a claimant must, inter-alia, have at least 260 (5 years) paid PRSI contributions since entering social insurance and 48 contributions paid or credited in the last complete contribution year before the date of their claim.

The department received a claim for IP for the person concerned on 25 February 2015. The person concerned was ineligible for IP under national legislation on the grounds that the contribution conditions for the scheme were not satisfied. EU Regulations provide that insurance contributions made in any other EU Member State may be aggregated with Irish contributions in order to satisfy the contribution conditions for IP. As the person in question does not have the required 260 paid contributions in Ireland and he stated on the application form that he had previously worked in Poland, a request was sent to the Polish social security authorities on 10 March 2015 requesting his Polish insurance record. This information was requested again on 27 March and 04 June 2015. To date the requested information has not been received from the Polish authorities.

As well as satisfying the contribution criteria, a person must satisfy the medical conditions for the scheme. In order to determine medical eligibility for IP a medical assessment for the person in question is in progress.

Unfortunately, claims processed under EU Regulations are more complex and can take longer to finalise as the department is highly dependent on receiving necessary information from other EU states. The department will continue to endeavour to establish the entitlement of the person in question and he will be notified of the outcome as soon as possible.

In relation to Family Income Supplement (FIS), a claim for the family concerned was originally received and processed in March 2015. It was refused, as the income of the family concerned at that time was in excess of the allowed threshold for the family size. However a new application for FIS was received in May and is being processed. The department will be in touch with the FIS claimant shortly in relation to the outcome of their new FIS claim in light of the changed circumstances.