Vol. 543 No. 3
61 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he has plans to reform the criteria for citizens signing on the live register for credits to eliminate restrictions on women returning to the workforce following a period of caring full-time for their children. [26844/01]
Access to the live register is available to both men and women who satisfy the conditions for receipt of unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance or who are entitled to sign for unemployment credited contributions, or credits. In order to qualify for social insurance credits a person must have previously worked and paid PRSI; if a person has no PRSI contributions paid or credited for more than two full contribution years, they must return to work and pay PRSI contributions for at least 26 weeks; and as credits are linked to specific circumstances such as illness or unemployment, a person must provide relevant evidence of these circumstances. For example, a person claiming credits on the basis of unemployment would be required to meet certain criteria, such as showing their availability for work.
The primary purpose of social welfare credits is to secure the PRSI entitlements of insured workers who are temporarily outside the paid workforce for reasons such as unemployment or illness in a manner which is consistent with the continued viability of the social insurance fund. Given that the award of credits can give entitlement to a range of social insurance benefits provided that a certain number of paid contributions have been made, I am sure you will appreciate that it is necessary to have some limitations on such award.
As regards the use of the live register as a means of facilitating the re-entry of women to the workforce, I should point out that the P2000 working group, which reported in April 2000, considered this question. The group concluded that the best approach did not lie in widening access to the live register itself, but rather in the consideration of alternative direct access routes to education, training and employment programmes for the women concerned. The group also considered that different categories of women had different needs and faced access barriers particular to their individual circumstances. In this regard, the group recommended that access to labour market programmes should be extended to the qualified adults among persons who are eligible to participate in labour market programmes. The two principal labour market schemes administered by this Department, the back to work allowance and the back to education allowance, are available to this category. The group did not recommend the extension of these schemes to the other two reference categories, i.e. spouses in low-income households or returners or entrants who have been outside the labour force engaged in domestic duties or caring full-time for their children. A review of progress to date in implementing the recommendations is being carried out under the aegis of my Department in conjunction with the other relevant Government Departments and agencies and the social partners.
