Denis Landy (Labour)

I welcome the Minister to the House. Is the Minister for Social Protection in a position to consider the provision of social welfare support for once self-employed people who now find themselves unemployed? As the Minister is aware a large number of people who were formerly self-employed and who are now unemployed are entitled to only a limited range of social welfare supports.

The importance of providing support for people who are unemployed or unable to find work by virtue of unemployment, illness etc. cannot be overstated. However, this facility is not available to the self-employed. Self-employed people pay PRSI at the S rate of 4%. People who come under this category include farmers, professional people, certain company directors, people who run their own businesses, sub-contractors and a range of self-employed people.

Class S PRSI contributions provide cover for widow's pension, the contributory pension, maternity benefit, adoptive benefit and bereavement grants. However, it does not provide cover for jobseeker's benefit. The Minister will agree that while this cover is welcome, it is limited in scope. In the past decade, self-employed people have made a considerable contribution to the country and the economy. It is safe to say that the small and medium-sized enterprises have been the backbone of the country and will remain so.

If we recover economically there is no doubt the SME sector will lead the way in that recovery. Unfortunately, we have seen a stark contraction of this sector in recent years. Many businesses have closed and many self-employed people have found themselves out of work. They do not appear on the live register. In the third quarter of 2011, some 12,900 self-employed people lost their jobs.

Extending social welfare protection to self-employed people achieves at least two objectives. First, it secures a measure of social justice which I believe the Minster has a deep interest in pursuing. It is not right that self-employed people should not have to use their life savings or the earnings of their partners. This is a matter of fairness. Second, it reduces the risk for those entrepreneurs who wish to start up their own businesses by providing a safety net. This makes perfect sense at a strategic level as well. We are committed to building an indigenous sector based on small- and medium-sized enterprises. However, we must put in place structural reforms to do so. Many reforms are needed and I release the Minister is playing her part in this area. Providing social welfare support for self-employed people should be a part of this process. I have spoken to many people in the sector who have confirmed that they would be more than happy to pay full PRSI. I call on the Minister to give consideration to this proposal.