Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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390. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if entitlements to a benefit payment are restricted to those who ceased employment in 2019, 2020 and subsequent years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45939/22]

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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391. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if persons who took early retirement in 2016 are entitled to a benefit payment for the 12 months up to and reaching the age of 66 years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45940/22]

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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392. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the rationale for excluding persons aged 65 years from a benefit payment depending on when they ceased employment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45941/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 390 to 392, inclusive, together.

The Benefit Payment for 65 Year Olds, provided under the Jobseekers Benefit scheme, was introduced in line with the Programme for Government commitment, to address the position of people who are required to or choose to retire at age 65 before the pension age of 66.

The payment is designed to bridge the gap for people who retire from employment or self-employment at 65 until they qualify for the State Pension at age 66. The social insurance contribution requirements are not as high as for receipt of the State Pension, and people retiring at age 65, given they have a recent attachment to the workforce, should, in most cases meet the required PRSI conditionality. The scheme is not designed for those who took early retirement some 6 years ago in 2016.

To be eligible for the payment a person must satisfy the qualifying conditions of the scheme including the PRSI social insurance contribution requirement.

A person must have paid 104 PRSI insurable employment contributions at class A, H or P or paid 156 class S contributions if they are self-employed. The second contribution condition requires that a person must also have 39 reckonable contributions paid or credited in the Governing Contribution Year (GCY). The GCY for 2022 is 2020. At least 13 of these contributions must be paid. Where a person does not have 13 paid contributions in the GCY they can be from 2 years before the GCY, the last complete tax year or the current tax year. Alternatively, a person could qualify if they have at least 26 reckonable contributions paid in both the GCY and the year immediately preceding the GCY.

I trust that this clarifies the position.