Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If the Minister reads the question, she will see that it covers all means testing on social welfare schemes, community employment schemes and the rural social scheme. I presume she is aware that where a person on the jobseeker's allowance, for example, has income from self-employment other than farming, the Department means tests that self-employed income at 100%. In other words, if a person earns €30 a week from self-employment, he or she will lose €30 a week from the jobseeker's allowance. In the case of farmers, with the exception of the environmental schemes, for every €100 earned, €70 is taken back. The top tax earners in the country are not penalised like that. Does the Minister believe that is fair? Is it not time we looked at this again and introduced a much fairer system for people who have small incomes from self-employment on farms?

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