Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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Question 319: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her policy regarding artists who have registered as self-employed or as PAYE workers and entitlement to unemployment benefit. [18788/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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An unemployed person may qualify for Jobseeker's Benefit or Jobseeker's Allowance. Jobseeker's Benefit is based on a person's social insurance record and Jobseeker's Allowance is based on weekly means. A fundamental qualifying condition for the benefit is that a person must be available for full-time work. The range of benefits and pensions to which different groups of workers may establish entitlement reflects the risks associated with the nature of their work. This in turn reflects the rate of contribution payable. Artists are generally adjudged to be self-employed workers, liable for PRSI at the Class S rate of 3%. They are consequently eligible for a narrower range of benefits than general employees who, together with their employers, pay a total social insurance contribution of 14.05%, excluding levies, under the full-rate PRSI Class A.

Self-employed workers are not insured against short-term benefits such as illness and jobseeker's payments - these are only available to persons covered by PRSI Classes A, E, H and P. This reflects the need for coverage for various contingencies, the rate of contributions that self-employed persons pay, the practicalities of administering and controlling access to short-term payments and the annualised system of contributions that these people enjoy. A system of separate arrangements for employed and self-employed workers within a social insurance context is common in other European social protection systems. Self-employed workers who do not qualify for an insurance-based benefit may establish entitlement to assistance-based payments by satisfying certain conditions including a means test.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 320: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when rent support will issue in the case of persons (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18817/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the Department by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation, whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source.

The Executive has advised that rent supplement was refused as total household income was deemed to be sufficient to meet the accommodation costs of the person concerned. He appealed against this decision to an Appeals Officer of the Executive but that appeal was unsuccessful. The person concerned was notified of the Appeals Officer's decision on 19 February 2009 and advised of a further right of appeal to the Chief Appeals Officer of the Department of Social and Family Affairs. No such appeal has been received to date.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 321: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when rent support will be offered in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18818/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the department by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The Executive has advised that a community welfare officer recently made a home visit to the person concerned to assess entitlement to rent supplement. The person concerned has been advised that rent supplement and arrears due from November 2008 will be paid at the end of May.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 322: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason a potential entitlement to an inheritance of approximately three acres of unzoned agricultural land that is unlikely to become otherwise is deemed to be fundamental to disallowance for rent allowance in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18821/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Rent Supplement is administered on behalf of the Department by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation, whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source.

Rent supplement is a means tested payment and the capital value of all property owned by an applicant whether or not there is an income derived from it, is assessed for the purposes of establishing entitlement to a payment. Under Section 196(1)(b) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, "the weekly means of any person for the purpose of ascertaining his or her entitlement to supplementary welfare allowance shall be calculated in accordance with the Rules contained in Part 4 of Schedule 3" of the Act. Under Part 4 of Schedule 3 the capital value of property, other than a person's own home, "which is invested or otherwise put to profitable use or which, though capable of investment or profitable use, is not invested or put to profitable use" is assessable as means.

The Executive has advised that the person concerned has an interest in property which is jointly owned by him and his siblings. A verbal valuation of the property was recently provided by a sister of the person concerned. Following an assessment of his share of the property in question and additional income which the person concerned has, he has been assessed with means of €372 per week which is sufficient to meet his housing needs and so he is not entitled to rent supplement. However, the Executive has decided to pay rent supplement to the person concerned, as an exceptional measure, for a period of six months to give him an opportunity to realise his share of the property. The person concerned was advised of this decision by letter dated 8 May 2009 and of his right to appeal against the decision to an Appeals Officer of the Executive.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 323: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if mortgage assistance will be offered to a person (details supplied) in County Laois; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18822/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which includes mortgage interest supplement, is administered on behalf of the department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. The Executive has advised that the person concerned appealed against a decision to refuse mortgage interest supplement to an Appeals Officer of the Executive. That Appeals Officer decided that the person concerned is not entitled to a supplement on the basis that the amount of mortgage interest payable by him exceeds such amount as is considered reasonable by the Executive to meet his residential and other needs. The person concerned lodged a further appeal to the Chief Appeals Officer of the Department of Social and Family Affairs on 26 February 2009. An oral hearing of the appeal is being arranged and the person concerned will be advised of the date of the hearing in due course.