Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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75. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will rectify the situation in which those on pandemic unemployment payments over the course of the pandemic do not now have the necessary PRSI contributions to cover regular dental and optician visits; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14563/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Dental and Optical Benefits are provided to qualified PRSI contributors and their dependent spouses under the departments Treatment Benefit scheme.  To qualify a person must have paid a minimum numbers of contributions since starting work and also have a required number of contributions/or credits, in the relevant tax year that relates to their application.  The number of such PRSI contributions will vary, depending on the persons age.

Amongst the actions taken by Government to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was a provision to attribute social insurance contributions to insured persons who were beneficiaries of certain Covid-19 income support payments including the pandemic unemployment payment. 

The purpose of this measure is to ensure that the social insurance records of the people who lost their jobs due to the impact of the pandemic would not be disadvantaged in accessing social insurance benefits in the future.

The measure provides that persons entitled to and in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment will have social insurance contributions attributed to them at the same value as they were paying while employed immediately before going on that payment.

Contributions have been attributed in respect of former employees and self-employed persons who were entitled to and in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment in 2020.  The process to attribute contributions to such employees who were entitled to and in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment in 2021 is scheduled to be undertaken in the coming months.  

Finally, If the Deputy is referring to a specific case I would advise that they should forward the details to my Department for review.

I trust that this clarifies the position.