Would the Minister agree that there is a need to extend——

The Minister answered that.

Has the Minister any estimated figure of the number of wives who do not qualify at present and what would the cost be to the State?

I gave the cost in my reply. The estimated number would be approximately 300,000 wives and to make that number eligible for these services would cost £5.6 million.

Would the Minister confirm that the extension of benefit to wives will not be dealt with by the Social Welfare Bill which it is intended to introduce later this year, eliminating discrimination——

That is a separate question.

The Deputy must be aware that we are dealing with an EEC directive——

This question deals with the cost of extending certain benefits. We cannot discuss a Social Welfare Bill we have not seen. A final supplementary from Deputy Flaherty.

Would the Minister give some details of how the figures of £5.6 million and 300,000 were reached? Is there an average level of take-up? I must congratulate the Minister on producing that figure, because this is the first time a proper estimate of the cost has been presented. Having this figure——

A question, please.

May I have the details of how the figure of £5.6 million was arrived at?

It is estimated that the extension of the dental benefit scheme to the wives of insured workers would add approximately 300,000 to the number of persons covered at present and would cost of the order of £4.6 million for the first year of operation. This would add about .1 to the current PRSI rate. On the optical benefit side, on the same basis of 300,000 wives, it is estimated that it would cost in the region of £1 million for the first year of operation, adding .025 per cent to the current PRSI rate. The total estimated cost of extending the dental and optical benefits to the spouses of insured persons would be about £5.6 million, adding about .125 per cent to the current PRSI rate.