Rules
Maternity Benefit is paid by the Department of Social and Family Affairs to women who have a certain number of paid PRSI contributions on their social insurance record and who are in insurable employment up to the first day of their maternity leave. The last day of work can be within 16 weeks of the end of the week your baby is due.
The PRSI contributions can be from employment or self-employment - PRSI classes that count for Maternity Benefit are A, E, H and S (self-employed).
If you are employed you must have:
- At least 39 weeks PRSI paid in the 12-month period before the first day of your maternity leave
Or
- At least 39 weeks PRSI paid since first starting work and at least 39 weeks PRSI paid or credited in the relevant tax year or in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year. For example, if you are going on maternity leave in 2008, the relevant tax year is 2006.
Or
- At least 26 weeks PRSI paid in the relevant tax year and at least 26 weeks PRSI paid in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year. For example, if you are going on maternity leave in 2008, the relevant tax year is 2006 and the year before that is 2005.
There is a difference between credits that are paid and those that are 'credited'. You need a certain amount of each in order to qualify for maternity benefit. As you have worked for 8 years since starting work, you would have more than 39 weeks paid PRSI since starting work. If you seek maternity benefit in 2010, the relevant tax year will be 2008. If in 2008 you were working up to May, and from then on getting maternity benefit, you will have both paid and credited PRSI for the full 52 weeks of that year. So you should fall under the second category above. That's assuming you have another job within 16 weeks of starting your maternity leave.
I'm not sure if you're currently on jobseeker's benefit or allowance. Benefit has to do with PRSI, allowance is just means-tested and has nothing to do with PRSI. So if you're on allowance, the CRO must have been referring to your income level when s/he said that you only just qualified for the allowance. They couldn't be referring to PRSI credits. Are you certain you are getting allowance and not benefit?
You don't lose out on PRSI entitlements while you're on maternity leave because they are credited to you while you're on leave. But if you've accumulated enough 'paid' credits since you first started work then that shouldn't affect you in getting maternity benefit again in the future. It sounds to me like your CWO is not explaining things too well. I think you should go talk to the Citizens Information people to make sure you're getting what you should be entitled to.