Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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195. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the training opportunities available to an unemployed person who has been refused participation on a community employment scheme and on SOLAS training courses, in view of the fact the person was previously self-employed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12692/15]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The key objective of activation policy and labour market initiatives is to offer assistance to those most in need of support in securing work and achieving financial self-sufficiency. This policy objective prioritises scarce resources to those in receipt of qualifying welfare payments. Accordingly the employment services and schemes provided by the Department are focused, in the first instance, on this cohort of unemployed people.

People who were previously self-employed and are now in receipt of jobseeker's allowance have access to the full range of activation measures available to other jobseeker's allowance recipients. Access to employment or work-experience-based programmes, involving the payment of a supplement to participants' basic jobseekers' payments, continues to be confined to unemployed persons who are in receipt of such payments.

Unemployed persons (including those previously self-employed) not in receipt of payments – generally because they have means in excess of the allowable limits – may be eligible to avail of up-skilling opportunities, for example through ETB training or through further or higher education courses, but will not be eligible to receive a training allowance while undertaking such training. Springboard and Skillnets courses for unemployed people, funded through the Department of Education and Skills, are also open to people regardless of their social welfare status.

Many other services are also available to people who are not in receipt of a social welfare payment. Employment services, such as advice on job-search activities and the use of online job search tools are available to people if they register with the Department's employment services offices, regardless of their social welfare status.