Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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1175. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the total number of people who have been in receipt of jobseeker's allowance or jobseeker's benefit continuously since December 2019; the ages and geographical locations of these recipients; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58372/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Jobseeker's Allowance is a means-tested payment made to people who are unemployed aged 18-66. To qualify for Jobseeker's Allowance, claimants must satisfy a means test, be available for full-time work and be fully or partly unemployed.

Jobseeker’s Benefit is a payment for people aged 18–66. It is paid for 6 or 9 months, depending on the number of social insurance contributions a person has made.

There were 231 individuals who remained continuously on Jobseeker’s Allowance from December 2019 through October 2025. Over the same period, there were no individuals who remained continuously on Jobseeker’s Benefit.

The tables below provide the detailed breakdowns by county and by age. However, as counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, and Sligo each have less than five persons, they are not included in Table 1 below.

Table 1. Count of Recipients by County

Table 2. Count of Recipients by Age

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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1176. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of people who have had their receipt of jobseeker's allowance or jobseeker's benefit permanently withdrawn or revoked for breach of the conditions associated with their claim, and who have not subsequently had their claim reinstated, from January 2020 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58373/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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To be eligible for a Jobseeker's payment a person must satisfy all the eligibility criteria for the relevant scheme.

Where a claim has been stopped, it will only be re-instated following an application by the customer and where all conditions of the scheme are satisfied.

It is not possible to provide data on the number of claims stopped and not subsequently re-instated due to the large churn on jobseekers schemes and the many legitimate reasons that claims are stopped.

I trust that this clarifies matters for the Deputy.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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1177. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he has any plans, or if he has done any work on reciprocal arrangements, whereby Irish citizens resident in Northern Ireland will access core welfare payments, such as carer's allowance, when their PRSI contributions have been used up and they are no longer eligible for carer's benefit; if he is aware of the hardship incurred on carers resident in Northern Ireland who face a sharp income cliff given that they are not eligible for carer's allowance; if he is aware of the extent to which this is a widespread issue across the island of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58377/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The key role of the Department of Social Protection is to provide income supports where an income need may arise due to unemployment, illness/disability or caring responsibilities.

The Carer's Benefit payment is made to insured people who may be required to leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a person in need of full-time care.

It is payable for a maximum period of 104 weeks (two years) for each person being cared for. It can be taken in one block or in separate periods as long as the combined total does not exceed 104 weeks. A person may be eligible providing they meet the qualifying conditions, including whether they have sufficient PRSI contributions.

In general not all those claiming Carer’s Benefit opt to remain in payment for the full 104 weeks. The average duration of payment in 2024 was 65 weeks, down 8% on the previous three-year average of 71 weeks.

Currently, there are 107 recipients of Carer's Benefit outside the State, with 3 of these recipients residing in Northern Ireland.

The Carer's Allowance is a means-tested social assistance payment for people living in Ireland who are looking after someone who needs full time care and attention. The time spent providing care must not be less than 35 hours per week. No social insurance contributions are required to qualify for the payment – entitlement is based on household means.

Like other social assistance payments, one of the main eligibility criteria for claiming Carer’s Allowance is that a carer must satisfy the Habitual Residence Condition.

When a carer residing in Northern Ireland who is claiming the social insurance-based Carer’s Benefit reaches the end of their entitlement of two years, they can apply for the non-means-tested carer’s allowance payment available in Northern Ireland.

Carer’s Allowance in Northern Ireland is payable to carers over 16 who are providing full-time care of at least 35 hours per week to someone in need of such care who receives certain benefits and lives at home.

Changes to schemes are made in an overall budgetary and policy context and are guided by an evidence base, in this regard I am satisfied with the current arrangements.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.