Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when she will amend the arrangement whereby only those carers meeting the criteria in early June of each year may qualify for the annual respite grant. [23292/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The respite care grant is an annual payment of €1,700 for carers who look after certain people in need of full-time care and attention. The payment is made regardless of the carer's means but is subject to certain conditions. One respite care grant per year is paid in respect of each person for whom the carer is providing full time, care and attention.

The grant is paid automatically to the majority of carers who are in receipt of carer's allowance or carer's benefit. W here there is a domiciliary care allowance in payment but no carer's allowance or benefit, the respite care grant was paid by the HSE. However, responsibility for the domiciliary care allowance transferred to the Department of Social and Family Affairs in early 2009. Administration of the grant to these recipients will be shared by the HSE and the Department of Social and Family Affairs this year with all applications processed by the Department from 2010.

A carer who does not receive carer's allowance, carer's benefit or a domiciliary care allowance but is providing full-time care and attention to a person must submit an application for payment each year. In order to qualify they must, in addition to other criteria, care for the person for at least six months and this period of care must include the first Thursday in June. This is in order to ensure that the grant is targeted at those providing full-time care over a significant period of time.

This year the grant will benefit almost 70,000 carers. More than 63,200 people in receipt of carer's allowance, carer's benefit and domiciliary care allowance will receive the grant along with approximately 6,500 additional full-time carers who are not in receipt of one of these payments. The estimated cost of the scheme to the Department in 2009 is over €112 million. The HSE will also have costs in respect of those grants paid to people in receipt of domiciliary care allowance alone.

While the Department will continue to review its schemes with a view to improving supports for carers a s resources permit, there are no plans to amend the criteria for the respite care grant at this time.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 54: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, further to Parliamentary Question No. 32 of 30 April 2009, her views on improving entitlements to job-seeker supports for people who were formerly self-employed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23275/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Self-employed persons pay a modified rate of PRSI contribution (Class S). These contributions provide cover for long-term pensions such as state pension and widow's/widower's contributory pension. However they do not provide cover for short-term benefits such as jobseeker's and illness benefits - 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 same persons 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. 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. Self-employed workers are 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.

In certain cases, a self-employed person who had insurable employment in the relevant year (currently 2007) and has sufficient PRSI contribution paid at the appropriate class s/he may qualify for a jobseeker's benefit payment provided all the conditions of the scheme are satisfied.

A self-employed person who has insufficient PRSI contributions paid may qualify for a jobseeker's allowance which is a means tested payment. Generally, in assessing the means of a self-employed person, a Social Welfare Inspector will take into account the level of earnings in the preceding 12 months to determine their expected income in the following year. However, with the general downturn in the economy at present, it is accepted that earnings in the previous 12 months may not be representative of expected earnings in the coming year. The Social Welfare Inspector will take account of this fact in projecting future earnings. There are no immediate plans to extend cover for short-term benefits to this group of insured workers. Any such measure would have significant financial implications and would have to be considered within a budgetary context. Consideration would also have to be given to an appropriate increase in the rate of the PRSI Class S contribution.