Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 June 2026
345. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Social Protection to clarify the reason there is a discrepancy between his Department and the Revenue Commissioners in relation to an application for maternity benefit (details supplied). [46513/26]
View answerMaternity Benefit is a payment made for up to 26 weeks to employed and self-employed women who are on maternity leave from work and satisfy certain conditions including social insurance conditions.
There are several pathways in which a claimant can satisfy the social insurance requirements. The three most recent complete calendar years are considered along with the current year. Claimants must satisfy one of the following:
39 contributions in the 12 months prior to the start of the Maternity Leave.
39 contributions paid since first starting work and 39 contributions paid or credited in the Relevant Tax Year (RTY). The relevant tax year is 2 years prior to the current year; for claims starting in 2026 this would be 2024.
39 contributions paid since first starting work and 39 contributions paid or credited in the year following the RTY (for claims starting in 2026 the RTY would be 2024 and the year following the RTY would be 2025).
26 contributions in the RTY and 26 in the year prior to this. (For example, if you are going on maternity leave in 2026, the RTY is 2024 and the year prior to this is 2023).
The Maternity Protection Act further states that maternity leave must start at least 2 weeks before the end of the week the baby is due.
The details supplied have been reviewed by officials from my Department. There is no discrepancy between the systems of the Department of Social Protection and the Revenue Commissioners in this case. The detail provided shows that the constituent has 32 PRSI weeks recorded in 2025, it also shows that there are 4 PRSI weeks recorded for January 2026 and 4 recorded for February 2026. However, we can only consider contributions that has been paid up to the leave start date.
In this case, the constituent’s employer indicated that the estimated due date of the baby was 26th January 2026, and that the constituent was commencing maternity leave on 12th January 2026. According to legislation the very latest date that maternity leave could commence would be 19th January 2026.
Thus, for the purposes of satisfying the social welfare requirements for Maternity Benefit, we can only consider the 32 PRSI weeks in 2025 and the 3 PRSI weeks in 2026 bringing her up to the 19th January leave start date.
We have indicated to the constituent that if they worked in the UK or another EU country to let us know as contributions from those countries can be used to qualify from Maternity Benefit.
If someone does not qualify for Maternity Benefit, there are other payments that may be available to them when the baby is born. If they are parenting alone, they may qualify for the One-Parent Family Payment. In addition, my Department provides the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, which is a safety net within the overall social welfare system. It provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose resources are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependents. Supports provided under the scheme can consist of a basic weekly payment, a weekly or monthly supplement in respect of certain expenses, as well as Additional Needs Payments.
If your constituent believes that they may have an entitlement to the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme they should contact their local community welfare service. There is a national Community Welfare contact centre-0818-607080 - which will direct callers to the appropriate office. In addition, applications can be made online via https://services.mywelfare.ie/.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
