Ms Mary Kennedy:

A self-employed person will go to the local social welfare office and state he or she has not worked for a very long time or, if he or she has worked, the income is so low as to be insufficient to support his or her needs. On the basis of this information one will qualify or not for a jobseeker's allowance payment. If over time one's business increases and improves and one returns to being able to sustain oneself, one should tell the local office one's income is no longer at a level which requires State support.