Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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166. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if he will review an application for invalidity pension in the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7470/17]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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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. Only PRSI classes A, E or H contributions are reckonable for IP purposes.

A claim for IP was received from the lady concerned on the 01 December 2016. She was refused IP on the grounds that the contribution conditions for the scheme were not satisfied. Specifically, she does not have the required 260 contributions paid since she entered social insurance. She was notified on 12 January 2017 of this decision, the reason for it and of her right of review and appeal.

Your representations have been treated as a request for a review of the decisions of the deciding officer. Following a review of all the information available it has been decided that there is no change to the original decision. The lady concerned was notified on 13 February 2017 of the outcome of the review and of her right to appeal the decision to the independent Social Welfare Appeals Office within 21 days.

The lady referred to is currently in receipt of disability allowance (DA) at a reduced rate from 09 November 2016, based on a review of her means. The decision to reduce her DA payment has been appealed to the Social Welfare Appeals Office and will be dealt with by an Appeals Officer.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.