Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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295. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason a person on jobseekers' allowance is precluded from making monthly instalments at source to the property tax; the number of persons are on jobseeker's allowance since January 2013; the average duration of dependence on this allowance before employment is secured; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53779/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Currently the following schemes have been specified by the Revenue Commissioners, with my consent, for the deduction at source of the Local Property Tax (LPT):-

The list of schemes where a deduction at source facility is provided is being kept under review.

The maximum personal rate of jobseekers allowance (JA) is currently €188.00 per week. This scheme of its nature is intended to be a short term support until an individual finds employment. In relation to the possibility of providing the facility for those on JA at some point in the future, it is important to note, that under current legislation, deductions at source for LPT cannot bring the personal rate below the personal rate of the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) which is currently €186.00 per week. Therefore, if the deduction at source facility were to be made available, the current maximum allowable weekly deduction for LPT would be €2.00 per week; otherwise the rate would be under the SWA rate.

At the end of November this year there were 107,323 persons with active claims for JA on the live register with a duration of less than 12 months. This represents 35.9% of the total number of persons (298,983) signing for JA at that date. A tabular statement detailing jobseekers allowance claims that closed in the first 11 months of 2013 for the reason ‘found work’ follows.