Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 April 2013
25. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Social Protection the steps she is taking to allow self employed persons who are seeking work but ineligible for a social assistance payment to be eligible for schemes or employment when being on the live register is a requirement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18904/13]
View answerGiven the scale of the unemployment crisis, the key objective of activation policy and labour market initiatives is to offer assistance to those in need of support in securing work and achieving financial self-sufficiency. This policy objective prioritises scarce resources to those in receipt of qualifying welfare payments. Accordingly the employment services and schemes provided by the Department are focused, in the first instance, on this cohort of unemployed people. It is recognised, however, that not all unemployed people (including those previously self-employed) are dependent on the State for financial support and some services (for example assistance with jobsearch activities, use of online job search tools) are available to such people if they register with the Department’s employment services offices.
It should also be noted that the State is funding over 450,000 in further education, higher education and training, namely:
- 75,000 FÁS training places.
- 180,000 Further Education places, 162,000 of which are full-time Higher Education places provided in Universities and Institutes of Technology across the country.
- Over 40,000 training places through Skillnets, including 8,000 for the unemployed, in partnership with private employers.
- The Momentum initiative provides free education and training projects for up to 6,500 long-term unemployed jobseekers.
- Over 6,000 Springboard, free part-time higher education, places in 2012, with additional places to be announced for this year.
Eligibility for accessing many of these interventions is not contingent on receipt of a social welfare payment or signing for credited contributions. Extension of the initiative to those not associated with the Live Register is not being considered given the current size and construct of the Live Register, in particular the numbers of people who are now long-term unemployed.
