Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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588. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the reason a dependent spouse must obtain the consent of the PRSI contributor to receive optical, dental and other benefits. [11456/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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When a person wishes to claim treatment benefit as a dependant spouse, based on their spouse’s/partner’s PRSI record, they are required to complete an eligibility check form, available from the service provider they intend to use or directly from the Department. In order to determine eligibility the Department has to confirm that the insured spouse/partner satisfies the PRSI contributions requirement and that the person seeking treatment benefit is financially dependent on the qualified person.

To ensure data protection compliance (including the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation legislation) the Department seeks the written consent of both parties to their data being used to make the necessary enquires to check eligibility. The “qualified” PRSI contributor is asked to consent to the use of their PPS number by the Department, so that their PRSI record can be accessed to potentially qualify their dependent spouse/partner for treatment benefits.

It should be noted that the “qualified” spouse/partner is not asked to consent to their spouse getting the treatment, but is asked to consent to the use of their PPSN by the Department. Where a dependent spouse/partner indicates to the Department that they do not wish to, or are not in a position to ask their spouse/partner to sign the form the Department can still proceed to determine eligibility. A protocol is in place to cover such instances and is in operation in relation to all schemes and services of the Department.