Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 5, lines 21 to 24, to delete paragraph (b) and substitute the following:

"(b) in section 142A (inserted by section 6(c) of the Act of 2009)—

(i) in subsection (1)(a), by substituting "22" for "20",

(ii) by substituting the following paragraph for subsection (4)(a):

"(a) the period of interruption of employment commenced on or before 30 December 2009 and where, in the period prior to that date, the claimant was not a person to whom this section applied,",

and

(iii) in subsection (4)(d), by substituting "22" for "20",".

In order to incentivise young jobseekers to avail of education and training opportunities and to try to avoid them becoming welfare dependent from a young age, sections 6 and 13 of the Bill provide for reduced rates of jobseeker's allowance and supplementary welfare allowance to people aged 20 to 24, inclusive. The rate of jobseeker's allowance for new claims is being reduced to €100 per week for 20 to 21 year olds and €150 per week for those aged 22 to 24, inclusive, who are not in training or education. The basic rates of supplementary welfare allowance for new claims for those under the age of 25 are also being reduced to ensure that people affected by the reduced rate of jobseeker's allowance do not have recourse to a basic social welfare top-up, the net effect of which would be to negate the jobseeker's allowance measure.

The purpose of amendments Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 is to ensure that existing 18 and 19 year olds in receipt of the reduced rate jobseeker's allowance of €100 will continue to receive this reduced rate on reaching age 20, if they are still unemployed.

See this speech in context