Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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498. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her views on correspondence (details supplied) from Focus Ireland regarding young persons on social welfare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46067/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Receiving the full adult rate of a jobseekers or Supplementary Welfare Allowance payment at a young age, without a strong financial incentive to engage in education or training, can lead to welfare dependency from an early age. If they do not improve their skills, they are at risk of becoming long term unemployed from a young age. Therefore, it is considered necessary to provide young people with a strong financial incentive to engage in education or training or to take up employment.

In order to incentivise young people to avail of education and training opportunities and try to avoid them becoming welfare dependent from a young age, the age related changes made to Jobseekers Allowance and Supplementary Welfare Allowance rates in 2009 are being extended.

This decision was made on foot of on-going consideration of unemployment and incentives policy by Government. This is a targeted measure aimed at protecting young people from welfare dependency. This measure seeks to incentivise young people towards the skills required for the labour market. We are creating jobs and we want to ensure that our young people are well placed to take up these jobs.

The measure encourages young jobseekers to improve their skills and remain active in the labour market in order to avoid the risk of becoming long-term unemployed and will help them to progress into sustainable employment on a long-term basis. Where a person is in receipt of a rate of reduced jobseeker's allowance and he or she participates in a course of education or training a higher rate of €160 per week applies.

In preparation for the forthcoming implementation of the Youth Guarantee, Budget 2014 contained an additional €46 million to support a number of initiatives aimed at young people.

Focus Ireland have raised issues in relation to reduced rates of jobseeker’s allowance for younger persons. Having regard to these issues it is intended to roll-out a pilot community employment programme specifically targeted at affected young persons in emergency accommodation. The aim of this pilot programme will be to provide a pathway for participants out of emergency accommodation and provide them with the necessary skills and services to assist them to live independently. It is hoped that results from this pilot programme will inform wider policy development with regard to young persons in emergency accommodation.

While the primary issue in this regard is a housing issue rather than one of income support, the Department of Social Protection has an important role in the delivery of solutions to homelessness. Generally, this role relates to income maintenance where homeless people have entitlements to the full range of social welfare schemes subject to the normal qualifying conditions, but the Department also engages in inter-agency responses to homelessness and through its work in the Homeless Persons Unit provides assistance to people in sourcing the most appropriate accommodation available. This ensures that where possible, people are diverted away from homeless services and towards community-based supports. In this context, the Department will continue to engage with Focus Ireland, and other stakeholders, in relation to issues relating to rates of jobseeker’s allowance for persons under the age of 26.