Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 September 2017
712. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will provide details of the background to the handling of an application for back to work enterprise allowance by a person (details supplied) in Dublin 9; the basis on which this application was declined; the social welfare record on which this decision was made; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39667/17]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware from her previous correspondence with the relevant Area Manager, the person concerned was referred to Jobpath, one of the department’s activation measures, earlier this year and was advised that they should discuss their business plans with their personal advisor, after which the advisor would be in a position to refer them to the relevant services to support their application. The person concerned failed to engage with the Jobpath service and decided in July this year to close his jobseeker claim. In August 2017 the person concerned submitted an application for Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA) to the BTWEA policy section, this application was then forwarded to his local Intreo Centre for assessment. One of the primary eligibility criteria to qualify for BTWEA is that an applicant must be in receipt of a qualifying DEASP payment. As the person concerned had closed his jobseekers allowance claim in July and was not in receipt of any other qualifying payment, he did not qualify for BTWEA. The person concerned was advised in writing of this decision on 7th September 2017.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
