Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

The total number class S insurance is approximately 300,000. There are currently 9,016 people categorised as self-employed receiving jobseeker's allowance. The weekly average payment for this group is €206. In addition, there are 10,580 farmers receiving farm assist with an average weekly income of €207. However, I must warn the Deputy about those figures. If a self-employed person has zero income because his or her self-employment has finished, such as a lorry driver who had a contract for hauling cement or blocks which finished completely and he or she had sold the lorry and had no income, then such a person would not be classed as self-employed under my statistics.

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