Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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342. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if he will permit self employed persons to make voluntary contributions to enable them to claim jobseeker's payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37488/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Self-employed people, who earn €5,000 or more in a contribution year, are liable to pay PRSI on a compulsory basis at the Class S rate of 4%, subject to a minimum annual payment of €500. This provides them with access to the following benefits: State pension (contributory), widow’s, widower’s or surviving civil partner’s pension (contributory), guardian’s payment (contributory), maternity benefit, paternity benefit and adoptive benefit. In line with the commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government to support entrepreneurship, I announced, in Budget 2017, the extension of cover for invalidity pension to the self-employed on the same basis as employees, with effect from December 2017. Gaining access to invalidity pension will provide the self-employed with a much stronger safety net to protect them in the event of long-term incapacity for work.

I also announced that the self-employed will have access to the treatment benefit scheme which provides partial dental, optical and aural services to qualified people, from March 2017. Treatment benefit entitlements will be extended further from October 2017 for both the self-employed and employees through the provision of additional dental and optical benefits. There will be no change in the PRSI contribution rate payable by the self-employed in 2017.

In 2017, my Department will carry out detailed work to establish how to provide a better safety net for self-employed workers who become unemployed.

Payment of contributions by the self-employed on a voluntary basis for benefits for which they are not covered for was examined by the Advisory Group on Tax and Social Welfare. In their report published in 2013, the Group concluded that extension on a voluntary basis, through either an ‘opt in’ or ‘opt out’ basis, could lead to the selection of bad risks and would undermine the social solidarity and contributory principles that underline the social insurance system. This recommendation will be further considered in the examination to be conducted by the Department. The outcome will be considered in a Budgetary context.