Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

43. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if the budget 2015 expansion of JobsPlus will allow for farm assist recipients to have eligibility for the JobsPlus scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40611/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Pathways to Work sets out the Government’s policy direction on labour market activation and is a key element of the Government’s strategy to get Ireland working again. The strategy outlined in Pathways is devised to ensure new job opportunities are made available to people on the live register with particular focus on the longer-term unemployed and that jobseekers are prepared to avail of work opportunities. This strategy has been reinforced with the additional measures I announced in Budget 2015 to provide for an expansion of JobsPlus and a new incentive for long-term unemployed jobseekers with children to return to work. JobsPlus will remain exclusively targeted at jobseekers who have been out of work for over 12 months. While I plan to announce a broadening of the eligibility criteria for JobsPlus in the near future, this will not include farmers in receipt of a Farm Assist payment from the Department on the basis that farmers are self-employed in their farming occupation, notwithstanding the fact that some income support is required.

At the end of September 2014, 2,273 employers received payments in respect of 3,000 employees who were previously long-term jobseekers. Further details of the JobsPlus incentive, including how to apply, are available on www.jobsplus.ie.