Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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207. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to address the inequality faced by self-employed persons who receive no supports in the event of sickness, accident or unemployment, despite contributing similar to the PAYE sector during their working lifetime; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12113/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The new partnership Government aims to create an additional 200,000 jobs by 2010, including 135,000 outside of Dublin. This will be achieved by continuing and enhancing a supportive environment for enterprise and employment.

In particular, the role of entrepreneurs and the self-employed will be central to this ambition. The new programme agreed with our partners in Government contains a commitment to introduce an improved PRSI scheme for the self-employed. In addition, we will also ensure that the Earned Income Tax Credit available to the self-employed will match that available to employees, over a number of budgets. This process commenced in Budget 2016 with the introduction of a €550 tax credit.

I want to ensure that appropriate sustainable supports are available to the self-employed in the event of certain contingencies arising. The self-employed already have access to State pension (contributory), widow’s, widower’s or surviving civil partner’s pension (contributory), guardians payment (contributory), maternity benefit and adoptive benefit on the same basis as employees. They will also gain access to the new paternity benefit which will be introduced later this year. They can also access jobseeker’s allowance, disability allowance and supplementary welfare allowance on a means-tested basis.

However, unlike the position with employees, they are not covered under the social insurance system for certain contingencies such as long-term illnesses or disability. The former Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare published a report in 2013 which examined the options for extension of cover to the self-employed.

This is a valuable contribution to the issue and my Department will be examining all of the available options in the coming months. This examination will include the level of appropriate additional contribution the self-employed should make for more benefits.

I look forward to making progress on this issue later this year.