Catherine Callaghan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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176. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will provide a breakdown, by county, of the number of persons who have qualified for the new pay-related benefit since it was introduced; if he will confirm the average payment rate under the scheme to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32946/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Jobseeker’s Pay-Related Benefit is a payment for people whose first day of unemployment is on or after 31 March 2025 and who have sufficient pay-related social insurance (PRSI) contributions.

An individual's rate of payment is directly linked to their previous earnings subject to a maximum or minimum rate. If they have 5 or more years of contributions, their payment will be 60% of their gross earnings for the first 13 weeks, up to a maximum of €450 per week. If they have 2 - 5 years of contributions, their payment will be 50% of your gross earnings, up to a maximum of €300 per week. The minimum rate is €125 euro per week.

Since the inception of the scheme, a total of 14,096 claims have been awarded. 11,909 are currently awarded, 2,229 of which had 2 - 5 years of contributions, and 9,680 had 5 or more years of contributions. The average rate for those that had 2 - 5 years of contributions was €255, while those with 5 or more years of contributions had an average rate of €398.

The breakdown by county, based on the most recent administrative data held by my Department, of those that have been awarded since the beginning of the scheme is provided in the table below.

Table 1: Claims awarded, by county