Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I have not given much thought to extending the scheme to the self-employed. I would prefer to concentrate on increasing the number of applicants actually in employment. If one were to extend the scheme to the self-employed one would have to certify accounts and so on, and that would become very difficult. There might be a case for it but I do not propose to move on it now. I prefer to put our energy into expanding the current take-up of the scheme. I have no problem in principle in looking at extending the scheme in the future but it is not a priority now.

The same would hold for community employment schemes. They have a particular focus, and people are meant to move on from them. A greater case could be made than for the self-employed, but I have no current proposals to extend the categories of those eligible for FIS and would prefer to increase the take-up.

I suppose the large numbers claiming FIS indicate that many people are on the minimum wage, are working part-time and are on low incomes. The function of FIS, which is now beginning to click in greatly, was to make it worth one's while to get off welfare and back to low-paid employment. We have been trying to bridge this gap for many years. Some people stated that it was not worthwhile for them to go to work because they were taking home less than on welfare, and that is why FIS was introduced, so that low pay became higher pay, so to speak, and it also meant employers could take on people directly from welfare and give them the opportunity to get back to work.

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