Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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305. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to treat the rural social scheme solely as a labour activation mechanism as opposed to its original role when introduced in 2004 as a support for part-time farmers and fishermen (details supplied); his views on whether this will spell the end of social supports for members of the farming and fishing industry who wish to remain in that industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22075/17]

Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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306. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to address a situation (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22076/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 305 and 306 together.

The Rural Social Scheme (RSS) is an income support initiative which provides part-time employment opportunities in community and voluntary organisations for farmers or fishermen who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments and underemployed in their primary occupation. The RSS is a supplementary income support scheme and is not designed as an employment activation scheme.

I have seen at first-hand myself from visits to various schemes throughout the country in recent months how programmes like the RSS deliver both for participants and for their communities.

The Government’s commitment to these programmes is clearly demonstrated by the announcement of the additional 500 RSS places in Budget 2017, the first increase in places since 2006. These additional places were rolled out with effect from 1^stFebruary 2017 increasing the overall number of places to 3,100. This measure, allied with my reversal of the previous cuts to Farm Assist, is evident of this Government’s commitment to rural Ireland.

Since 1^stFebruary 2017, all new participants commencing on the RSS have to be over 25 years of age and a 6 year overall participation limit also applies. It should be noted that prior to the introduction of the six year participation limit, almost 50% of the participants were on RSS for over 10 years. The new measure will, therefore, ensure that places become available to provide opportunities for other farmers and fishermen to take part in the scheme. Income support will still be available to eligible farmers and fishermen who are not on the RSS in the form of Farm or Fish Assist.

RSS participants who commenced on the scheme prior to 1^stFebruary 2017 will remain on the scheme as long as they continue to satisfy the eligibility conditions of the scheme.

The RSS is managed by 35 Local Development Companies (LDCs) and by Údarás Na Gaeltachta who are the employers of the supervisors and participants. The setting of terms and conditions of supervisors employed to support RSS participants are matters for each LDC whose representative body is the Irish Local Development Network (ILDN). Each supervisor has a contract of employment with the partnership company, in line with statutory requirements.

The Department has, over the past number of months, been aware of the concerns of RSS supervisors about their terms and conditions of employment and, in particular, their pay rate. While any issues regarding the terms and conditions of RSS supervisors are a matter for ILDN and the LDCs, the Department is conscious of the role it plays in terms of the funding that it provides to the companies for the programme. The Department has, therefore, informed ILDN that it is willing to provide funding to implement a pay scale for supervisors in return for some productivity-related benefits. This issue is now with ILDN and the LDCs to progress as the employers of the RSS supervisors.

I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy