Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In response to Deputy Penrose first, it does not have to be the case but it has always been the case that the benefit is aligned with the leave. If somebody gets X number of weeks statutory maternity leave we will match that with the benefit. I had intended to do the same. Of course, the money does not come from my pot. It comes from the Social Insurance Fund so that has to come from contributions from people working and paying their PRSI every week. However, I believe it is something people would be willing to pay PRSI for and I do not believe that would be a great difficulty if the rules around leave are changed.

In terms of the other benefits for the self-employed, I have asked my Department to do up some work on a system of jobseeker's benefit for the self-employed. It is a tricky one because it is very obvious when somebody who is employed becomes unemployed in that they get a P45. It is a little trickier to establish when a self-employed person becomes unemployed. I have not made a decision on it yet. The earliest we can bring it in would be 2018 but perhaps in line with proposals the Deputy has made in the past, a voluntary scheme with somebody paying for a new stamp or voluntarily paying a higher rate of PRSI in return for that additional benefit might well be the most sensible way to proceed.

On short-term illness, we will examine that too. The order in which we are doing it is treatment benefit, invalidity pension, jobseeker's and then short-term after that.

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