Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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284. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the total number of participants in the rural social scheme, RSS, over the period 2014 to 2016 by county in tabular form; the total number of new places allocated to date in 2017 in each county or to each company and Údarás na Gaeltachta delivering the RSS, as committed under budget 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6814/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the purpose of the rural social scheme (RSS) is to provide income support to farmers and fishermen who have an entitlement to specified social welfare payments. The Government, as part of the budget package for 2017, announced 500 additional places on the scheme. This increased the overall number of places to 3,100.

In allocating the additional places, the Government recognises the benefits the RSS provides for participants and their families, as well as the valuable contribution the scheme is making to the provision of services in communities across Ireland.

The following table gives the allocated number of places on the RSS over the period 2014 to 2016 by county and the total number of RSS places available to each county with effect from 1st February, 2017, following the allocation of the additional 500 places.

Table 1

RSS Breakdown by County

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.