Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue today. In these times of severe economic difficulty, people are under tremendous pressure to make ends meet and some are finding it extremely difficult to keep going. If in times like these if a worker is unlucky enough to lose his job, he can avail of social welfare, which will ease the burden somewhat. There is, however, another branch of society that historically found it even more difficult to keep going in hard times, the self-employed. I was on local radio a short time ago and people were ringing in, saying they were unemployed and finding it difficult to access social welfare. They also told me family resource centres are where the self-employed tend to look for entitlements. There is a myth that a self-employed person is not entitled to any social welfare payments. This is simply untrue but the myth is sometimes perpetuated. Since I was elected, I find a great deal of politics is about perception rather than hard fact. We should promote the message among the self-employed that help is available from social welfare.

Another problem is that those who need help think they must de-register as self-employed workers to avail of social welfare, which is yet another myth. I call for forward planning in better times. Would it not be possible to design a scheme for self-employed people to pay into? At present, they pay S class PRSI that does not entitle them to the full range of social welfare benefits. Given that the recession has thrown up such difficulties for the self-employed, we should design a scheme that would be of some help to them in the future. A companies Bill will be introduced shortly in the House. Could such a scheme be considered in that Bill as it would relate to sole traders and the self-employed?

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