Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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58. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason the one-parent family payment is not a qualifying payment under the JobsPlus programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15054/15]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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JobsPlus provides a direct monthly financial incentive to employers who recruit employees primarily from the Live Register. Employers may also be eligible for the incentive if they recruit former recipients of the one parent family payment whose youngest child is 14 years of age or over who are currently in receipt of a jobseekers' payment and those transitioning into employment. The incentive provides employers with two levels of payment - €7,500 or €10,000 over two years - paid in monthly instalments provided the employment is maintained.

In line with the policy objectives set out in Pathways to Work and the Action Plan for Jobs, the objective of JobsPlus is to encourage employers to focus their recruitment on those that are longer term unemployed. A person in receipt of a one parent family payment is not considered eligible. There are no proposals to extend the criteria further.