John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

In the first instance, I wish to refer to a matter that was touched on earlier by the Minister regarding the self-employed. While the Minister made the case quite well herself, it cannot be stated often enough in this House that under the previous Administration, the Department insisted on the previous year's accounts in the case of a self-employed person who sought social welfare payments. Obviously, the accounts for the previous year were going to be far better than those for the present year, that is, the year in which the business went to the wall.

The Minister has now brought about a situation in which such self-employed people can present their situation as it exists today and can apply for unemployment assistance. As a result of this measure, 86% of applicants have been granted social welfare. I wish to put this on the record of the House because apparently, the word on the street is that self-employed people are not eligible for jobseeker's allowance, which is not perfectly true.

Second, I wish to comment on the cuts being discussed regarding those who are under 26. Senators Whelan, Landy and I today met the president of USI, representatives from the We're Not Leaving campaign and representatives from the National Youth Council of Ireland. They had a number of issues, which obviously included those being debated by Members at present, a couple of which have been mentioned by Senator Power. In this context, they started off by referring to cuts to the social welfare rates. I told them there actually was no cut to the rate. As I stated in the Chamber yesterday, a cut is where one is getting an amount of money and someone takes it away. The reality in this regard is that anyone who is in receipt of social welfare at present at whatever rate will retain that rate. I acknowledge it is regrettable but all that is happening is the length of time such people will be on that level of payment is being extended. That is what Members are referring to as a cut, when it is not.

The second problem they raised was their belief that were people in receipt of social welfare payments at a rate of €144 per week to take up part-time employment and were they to go back to reclaim social welfare, they would be put on €100 per week. I told them this was untrue and again, they could not believe what I was telling them because they already have been misled into believing they would lose money. The third point they did not know was that married students under the age of 26 are entitled to the full rate of social welfare. I acknowledge this is a rare case but one often has married students under the age of 26.