Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister. I refer to matters relating to employers, PRSI and exclusions. Will the Minister explain why people who were self-employed, who were employers, whose businesses have folded and who have fallen the furthest in many cases have no right to the jobseeker's allowance or jobseeker's benefit? Many such people are penniless and carry a good deal of debt at present and they have no basic source of cash. It is rather humiliating for many. I question the justice in this given that a European citizen from another country can come here and, within a short period, qualify for jobseeker's benefit. Will the Minister explain this anomaly? What does the Minister propose to do to help our small and medium enterprise people who have fallen on hard times? Is there anything for them in the form of social welfare benefits?