Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As a part of my visit to London to celebrate St Patrick's day, I held bilateral meetings with my counterparts namely the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Minister for Employment. We spoke about the positive collaboration between the Department of Work and Pensions and the Department of Social Protection on social security matters. In particular, we discussed the work being done to protect the social security rights of citizens in the UK and Ireland post Brexit.

The meeting was also an opportunity to discuss common issues faced in regard to the labour force and the cost of living crisis, supporting people with disabilities back into to employment, pension policy and hot school meals programme. It was a valuable opportunity to share learning and successes.

In addition, officials from my Department are in regular contact with their counterparts in the UK on a range of matters to ensure that the social security rights of citizens in Ireland and the UK are maintained post Brexit.

Under the social security arrangements between Ireland and the United Kingdom, the respective authorities exchange social insurance record details electronically for pension entitlement assessment purposes.

While many records are received within a short period of time, others may take a prolonged period, due to incomplete information and the complexities of identifying older records.

While officials in the State Pension (contributory) area do not hold formal meetings with the UK authorities, they contact the UK authorities on individual cases if any delays are experienced. This is to ensure applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.

If the Deputy has details of a specific case where it appears there may have been a delay in processing, the information should be provided to the State Pension (contributory) area in my Department for review.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.