John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with Deputy Scanlon. Fianna Fáil will support the Bill, the purpose of which is to provide for the introduction of a new social insurance scheme to provide jobseeker's benefit for the self-employed. It will be payable to individuals who lose their self-employment and have the required number of PRSI contributions to qualify for payment. Fianna Fáil has consistently supported extending a full range of social protection supports to self-employed PRSI contributors on a phased and voluntary basis as part of our commitment to foster an entrepreneurial culture as well as enhancing social solidarity. As the Minister will know, this was one of the commitments in the confidence and supply agreement. My colleague, Deputy O'Dea, should be present to deal with the Bill, but it is a great pleasure for me to speak on it. As I stated, Fianna Fáil supports the Bill and the creation of a social welfare safety net for the self-employed. The Minister indicated in her contribution that she is anxious to move the legislation along speedily. We will do nothing to disrupt or delay it. It is quite important that it is dealt with quickly.

I am interested in speaking on the Bill because I spent my entire working life as a self-employed person until I entered politics. It is a daunting and nerve-wracking place to be. There are no supports when things go wrong. It is often claimed that those in such a situation could apply for the means-tested payments. As those who have been self-employed know, if things go against a self-employed person and the business effectively folds, it is very difficult to prove eligibility in a means test. One may hold certain assets but there may be significant debts behind them. It is very challenging for the self-employed to access protection and supports. As I noted, this is one of several improvements that have been made for the self-employed. It is a very important change.

The Minister will be aware that the Joint Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection has been looking at the area of bogus self-employment and so on. I noted at the time that a significant number of people - more than 325,000 - are classed as self-employed. For those people, the passage of the Bill gives them a degree of support and comfort that they did not have previously. It is important that the work being done by the committee on bogus self-employment concludes and that the Government engages in that process in terms of future legislation such that there is absolute clarity on who is self-employed, what constitutes bogus self-employment and how that is determined. I do not wish to open a debate on the matter this evening, but there are concerns in that regard.

The Bill is very welcome. I do not wish to end on a sour note, but I was disappointed that full equalisation of the earned income credit with the PAYE credit was not provided for in the budget. It was expected that that would have been done by now. I acknowledge that other benefits, such as dental and optical benefits, have been extended to the self-employed. We are moving in the right direction. The Minister has the support of Fianna Fáil on the Bill, the measures in which formed part of the confidence and supply agreement. It is interesting that the Bill has been introduced at this late stage in what may be one of the final gallops of this Dáil. I will be glad to see it enacted.

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