Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)

I forgot to raise one or two issues earlier. One relates to access to social welfare for the self-employed. It seems to be much harder for them to get anything if they are off work. They do not qualify for injury or illness benefit unless they have the required PRSI contributions.

In many cases, social welfare benefits work out better for the rich than the poor. Benefits should be more targeted at children, lone parents, people with disabilities and carers – the people who need them most. Those are points I did not raise earlier.