Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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78. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of participants on the rural social scheme, broken down by administering company; the number of vacancies on the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26522/24]

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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The Rural Social Scheme (RSS) is an income support scheme that provides part-time employment opportunities for farmers and fishermen and women who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments and who are underemployed in their primary occupation. It is a demand-led scheme and people who wish to participate apply directly to the IB that delivers the scheme in their area.

The RSS is delivered by a network of 36 local development companies and Údarás na Gaeltachta, known collectively as implementing bodies (IBs).

A review of the scheme has been ongoing over the past year. A wide scale consultation process involving all stakeholders has been undertaken and the review is now nearing completion. It is intended to finalise the review and to have the findings published in the coming months.

At the end of May 2024, there were 2,279 participants on RSS and 621 vacancies. The table below shows the breakdown of RSS participant numbers by Implementing Body (IB).

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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79. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of participants on the farm assist/fish assist scheme in each of the past five years, broken down by county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26523/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Farm Assist is a statutory means-tested income support specifically for farmers on low incomes. There are approximately 3,700 claims in payment at present. The Government has provided €50.92 million for the scheme in 2024.

The tabular statement below shows the number of persons in receipt of Farm Assist at the end of each of the last five years. The scheme is demand-led. The numbers on the scheme are declining, primarily as a result of the ageing profile of the customers. Claimants tend to exit the scheme straight to a pension scheme. Farm Assist claimants can also move to the Rural Social Scheme, which provides a supplementary income for low-income farmers aged 25 years or over. Participants work 19.5 hours per week providing services that benefit rural communities and receive a top-up on their social welfare payment. Eligibility for participation in the Rural Social Scheme derives from Farm Assist, with the Farm Assist means assessment applying to the scheme. Over 45% of Rural Social Scheme participants were previously in receipt of Farm Assist.

I have made a number of improvements to the scheme in recent years. Under the Farm/Fish Assist means test, income from a range of agri-environmental schemes attracts a disregard of €5,000, which I increased from €2,540 from January 2023, with 50% of the balance assessed as means.

Further to a 2021 technical review of the means test income disregards for Farm Assist, I significantly expanded the number of agri-environmental schemes that attract this disregard with the addition of 19 schemes, with effect from June 2022, and a further 4 schemes with effect from April 2023.

As recommended by the review, I continue to work with my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, to identify any additional schemes in Ireland's CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 that could be considered for inclusion in this list of schemes.

I trust this clarifies the position for the deputy.

Tabular Statement - Recipients of Farm Assist, at end December 2019-2023