Vol. 385 No. 1
asked the Minister for Labour if he will reintroduce a scheme which would allow persons in receipt of unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance to collect a capital sum of, for example, six to 12 months payments where it can be shown that these will assist the person concerned to become self-employed.
28.
asked the Minister for Labour if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there are job opportunities for self-employed persons supplying domestic services such as decorating; and if he will introduce a scheme to match such opportunities with available persons seeking work.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 26 and 28 together.
The enterprise scheme operated by FÁS aims at assisting eligible unemployed persons to set up their own businesses.
The thinking behind the scheme is to ensure a regular income for participants during the initial 52 weeks of their projects in lieu of their unemployment benefit or assistance. In exceptional cases, these payments may be capitalised.
For those in receipt of pay related benefit at the time of entry to the scheme, the present conditions allow for the payment of the balance of their pay related element in a lump sum up to a maximum of 26 weeks.
Decision on recruitment to this scheme, the type of enterprise approved, and the capitalisation of the allowance are day to day matters for FÁS. I would suggest therefore that the Deputy contact FÁS direct about these operational matters.
