Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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578. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if there are any plans to include schoolteachers who are without a permanent contract or a contract of indefinite duration in the eligibility criteria for the jobseekers pay-related benefit scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37466/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The new Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit scheme was introduced at the end of March this year. This social insurance-based income support has replaced the Jobseeker's Benefit scheme for people who have become fully unemployed since the commencement of the scheme on 31 March.

The origins of this payment is the experience during the Covid period when many workers lost their income suddenly and without warning. The Pandemic Unemployment Payment, which was pay-related, helped to cushion the income shock. Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit extends the same principle to people who lose their income unexpectedly. It links the rate of payment to a person's previous earnings to provide a financial cushion when a person loses their employment.

The legislation underpinning the scheme provides that specific categories of atypical workers are not included under the Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit scheme and will continue to be supported under the original Jobseeker's Benefit scheme. These exclusions apply to people who are working on a part-time, casual or seasonal basis, including those who have a recurring pattern of employment and unemployment aligned with the academic year. The conditions for the Jobseeker’s Pay-Related Benefit scheme are not designed to provide in-work support on a recurring and intermittent basis.

Workers whose employment patterns aligns with the academic year have a predictable or ongoing pattern of work and do not the experience the unexpected income shock from a sudden and permanent loss of employment.

Teachers who are without a permanent contract or a contract of indefinite duration can continue to claim the PRSI-based insurance Jobseeker's Benefit or the means-tested Jobseeker's Allowance. There is no change to the income supports to which such persons are entitled.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.