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

-----I do not know whether that was the case or not. We are doing the work on the review. The key issue is to have it done well before the next budget. We want to have it done before the summer so that we can see what the options are and what they will cost with a view to making some changes in the budget to be then implemented in the Social Welfare Bill before the end of the year, but we must understand the consequences involved with respect to any changes we make. Something might make sense for seasonal workers in the fishing industry and maybe other industries but, if we get it wrong, it might open the door to huge numbers of part-time and seasonal workers becoming eligible for jobseeker's payments in a way that would not be affordable. The work that is being done now is to examine what we could do to improve matters and to set out the options and the costs so that we might consider them the context of the budget in October and the Social Welfare Bill thereafter.

As the Deputy knows from the information he already has, I have not seen the review yet but it is being worked on in the Department. I look forward to making it available as soon as possible.

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