Ms Bríd O'Brien:

Yes. We would be concerned at the level of discouragement in this area and across a whole range of social welfare issues. There is a way of ensuring that people get access to jobseeker's benefit over time, namely, allowing people to pay into the scheme as an employer and employee, thus building up an entitlement in the same way as employees do. It should not be beyond the system to do this. There appears to be a reluctance to do it. The advisory group on tax and social welfare sought submissions on this issue a year or more ago. To the best of my knowledge, no progress has been made in this area. It is an issue that needs to be addressed, in particular if the State is encouraging people to address their unemployment through self-employment.