Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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417. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when her Department's report into barriers facing seasonal workers accessing social welfare payments in County Donegal will be published and made available; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18714/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My Department’s main social welfare schemes for people who are unemployed are the jobseeker’s allowance and the jobseekers benefit schemes. Both schemes provide significant support to individuals so that they can work up to 3 days a week and still retain access to a reduced jobseeker’s payment. The 2018 Estimates for my Department provide for expenditure this year on the jobseeker’s schemes of €2.17 billion.

An Taoiseach, in his previous role as Minister for Social Protection, gave a commitment at Dáil report stage of the Social Welfare Bill 2016 that he would ask officials to examine the issue of jobseeker’s benefit and the treatment of part-time and seasonal workers, including those categorised as having a subsidiary employment. My Department has completed a report on jobseekers benefit and the treatment of seasonal and part time workers which I am examining.

On 7th December 2017, I published the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017 The Bill delivers on the commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government to tackle the problems caused by the increased casualisation of work and strengthen the regulation of precarious work. The Bill completed Second Stage in the Dáil on 15th February 2018 and Committee Stage is scheduled for 17th May next.

This very important piece of legislation will improve the security and predictability of working hours for employees on insecure contracts and those working variable hours in all sectors of employment.

My Department is currently collating data on jobseekers benefit recipients in subsidiary employment. We will have 12 months of data gathered by May 2018 at which point I will be in a better position to make an informed decision on this issue.

I intend to submit the report on jobseekers benefit and the treatment of seasonal and part time workers to the Joint Oireachtas Committee. The report will be published subsequently and will be made available to all members.