John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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1204. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons that have used class S PRSI contributions to qualify for paternity benefit, invalidity benefit and treatment benefit since they were introduced. [24266/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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It is not possible to provide the information requested in respect of all of these schemes as this level of detail is not required to qualify for the benefits. Qualification is based on having the required number of contributions paid or credited and there is generally no requirement to record the specific PRSI class giving rise to qualification.

However, detail on the number of people that have used Class S PRSI contributions to qualify for paternity benefit, since it was introduced in September 2016 can be provided and is shown here

The invalidity pension scheme was extended to the self-employed from 1 December 2017, with legislation enacted to include self-employed PRSI contributions in the reckonable category for this pension. As a result, invalidity pension claims can be awarded based on employed, self-employed or a combination of both contribution types and it is not necessary to keep a record of the contribution type used to qualify. Accordingly, the requested information is not available.

Similarly, it is not possible to identify treatment benefit claims from the self-employed without significant analysis and development work, as the Department does not record information in respect of claims paid under separate PRSI classes. However, the increase in claim numbers is a good indicator of the interest in these benefits from self-employed and employed contributors. Overall, 649,500 claims have been processed and paid in the eight months from November 2017 to May 2018, an increase of 388,900 claims on the same period a year ago.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.