Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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87. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to extend PRSI benefits to self-employed persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2725/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Core to the Programme for Government is improving the position of the self-employed generally, including the commitment to introduce an enhanced PRSI scheme for the self-employed.

Making progress on this commitment has been one of my key priorities since becoming Minister in this Department. On Budget Day, I was pleased to announce a number of important measures which will benefit the self-employed.

From March 2017, the self-employed will have access to the treatment benefit scheme which includes free eye and dental exams, and contributions towards the cost of hearings aids. Treatment benefit entitlements will also be extended from October 2017 so as to provide further dental and optical benefits (these improvements will benefit both the self-employed and employees).

More significantly, self-employed contributors will be eligible for the Invalidity Pension from December 2017. For the first time, this will give the self-employed access to the safety-net of State income supports if they become permanently incapable of work as a result of an illness or disability without having to go through a means test. This is a real advance in the level of cover available to the self-employed.

The self-employed will also benefit in 2017 from the further increase in Earned Income Tax Credit announced by my colleague, the Minister for Finance, as well as the extension of entrepreneurship supports. These measures are all part of the Government’s policy of making work pay and encouraging self-employment and entrepreneurship.

I plan to continue extending cover for the self-employed to other benefits on a phased basis in future Budgets. In 2017, my Department will examine the extension of social insurance to cover new risks and contingencies, including developing proposals on a form of jobseeker’s benefit where a person's business fails or they can no longer continue working in their profession or trade.