203 Mr. Garland asked the Minister for Social Welfare his views on whether all self-employed persons should be allowed to join the PRSI scheme; if not, the reason therefor and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Since 1988, self-employed people have been included in the social insurance system for old age and widows pension purposes. Pension arrangements generally for the self-employed will be addressed in the forthcoming report of the National Pensions Board and any changes in the present arrangements will be considered in the context of that report.

Under the present arrangements self-employed persons earning under £2,500 a year are not covered. A minimum earnings threshold for social insurance cover is necessary to ensure that there is a reasonable relationship between contributions and benefits. Such a relationship is necessary to safeguard the financing of the Social Insurance Fund. Furthermore, if there were no lower limit, people could engage in self-employment for a few hours per week with minimal earnings, solely for the purposes of establishing entitlement to benefits. I have no plans to extend the scheme to self-employed people below the earnings threshold.