I just found out today that I qualify for 18 years class 2 payments going back to 2006. 
The online form timescale was very short. I applied on February 2nd 2025 and two weeks later I could see online that my application was completed. Today I received a letter dated February 19th to saying that my application was successful. In total the process took 4 weeks and 2 days.
My circumstances are that I worked for 2 years in the UK from June 90 to July 92. Luckily these 2 years spanned 3 tax years and with the 3 juvenile years, my record says that I have 6 credited years. I worked in the UK prior to my departure and have been working continuously in Ireland since I returned. I pay class D prsi in Ireland and am currently job sharing, but none of this affected my application.
Hopefully I will live until age 67 and a few decades beyond to really benefit! I also need to figure out how to make the payments ,but I know others have already posted helpful info on how to do this, so I will investigate .Thank you so much to @DannyBoyD and all the other posters on this site who helped with information for my application form.
The online form timescale was very short. I applied on February 2nd 2025 and two weeks later I could see online that my application was completed. Today I received a letter dated February 19th to saying that my application was successful. In total the process took 4 weeks and 2 days.My circumstances are that I worked for 2 years in the UK from June 90 to July 92. Luckily these 2 years spanned 3 tax years and with the 3 juvenile years, my record says that I have 6 credited years. I worked in the UK prior to my departure and have been working continuously in Ireland since I returned. I pay class D prsi in Ireland and am currently job sharing, but none of this affected my application.
Hopefully I will live until age 67 and a few decades beyond to really benefit! I also need to figure out how to make the payments ,but I know others have already posted helpful info on how to do this, so I will investigate .Thank you so much to @DannyBoyD and all the other posters on this site who helped with information for my application form.