Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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187. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if officials in her Department have considered the lessons learned from the former fish assist scheme and the way this might inform a new scheme to help those adversely affected along the coast of Ireland by the storms of late, particularly to help low-paid fishermen who rely on inshore fleets and whitefish and are vulnerable to weather conditions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10639/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Self-employed workers, including self-employed fishermen, whose businesses fail or suffer from reduced demand or who do not have constant or continuous employment, may access social welfare support by establishing entitlement to assistance-based payments such as jobseeker’s allowance and disability allowance. In the case of jobseeker’s allowance they can apply for the means-tested jobseeker’s allowance if their business ceases or if they are on low income as a result of a downturn in levels of work.

The term ‘fish assist’ was previously used to describe a feature of the jobseeker’s allowance scheme and referred to the aspects of the means assessment, that were discontinued under measures in Budget 2012 and Budget 2013, which applied to certain categories of self-employed fishermen within the scheme.

Under the current jobseeker’s allowance means assessment the means of a self-employed person will take account of the level of earnings in the last twelve months in determining their expected income for the following year and, in the current climate, account is taken of the downward trend in the economy. Typically over 80% of jobseeker’s allowance claims from self-employed persons have been awarded over recent years.

In addition, employees in the fishing industry who suffer a loss of employment may claim jobseeker’s benefit or allowance subject to normal scheme criteria which includes being available for and genuinely seeking full-time work.

It may also be noted that if a person has no income they may be entitled to the basic supplementary welfare allowance. If weekly income is below the supplementary welfare allowance rate for their family size, a payment may be made to bring their income up to the appropriate supplementary welfare allowance rate. Also exceptional needs payments may help meet essential, once-off, exceptional expenditure, which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income.

Any changes to these provisions would be a matter for Government to consider in a Budgetary context.