Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 section 41

Conditions for receipt

Section 41 sets out the PRSI contribution requirements a person must satisfy to qualify for illness benefit, including historical variations and regulatory exceptions.

• Claimants need at least 104 qualifying contribution weeks since entering insurance, plus recent contributions in the second last (and possibly third last) complete contribution year before the benefit year.
• Weekly earnings or income must exceed a prescribed threshold, though regulations may allow reduced-rate payments where this condition is not fully met.
• Historical claims have lower contribution thresholds depending on when the period of incapacity began (26 weeks before April 1987, 39 weeks before April 2004, 52 weeks before January 2009).
• Special provisions apply to volunteer development workers, jobseeker's allowance recipients with 260+ contributions, and those transferring from occupational injury benefit.