John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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386. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if he will extend community employment eligibility to self employed jobseekers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18113/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The eligibility for participation on the Community Employment (CE) programme is dependent on the individual circumstances of each person and the length of time s/he has been in receipt of a CE-qualifying social welfare payment. CE is intended for the long-term unemployed and other specified disadvantaged groups.

The aim of CE remains as an active labour market programme with the emphasis on progression into employment and/or further education and training. The main cohort of CE participants is made up of the long-term unemployed in receipt of jobseekers allowance.

While it is possible for a self-employed person to meet the basic criteria of receipt of a CE-qualifying payment (specifically jobseekers allowance) for the requisite period of time (12 months), they may not meet the criteria of being unemployed during that qualifying period. For CE, the maximum amount of days worked permissible for a jobseeker is 30 days within the 12-month qualifying period. If a self-employed person is in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance and meets the criteria outlined above, they can be considered for CE on a case-by-case basis.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.