Fine Gael Senator for Galway West and Seanad spokesperson for Social Protection, Fidelma Healy Eames, is urging the Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, to provide social insurance cover for the self-employed who find themselves out of work.

“I welcome the announcement by Minister Burton, that an advisory group has been established to review the guidelines for tax and social welfare. As part of its remit, the group will examine and report on issues involved in providing social insurance cover for self-employed people in order to establish whether or not such cover is technically feasible and financially sustainable.

“I believe it is crucially important that self-employed people who take a big risk to go out on their own to set up their business, should be entitled to the same level of social insurance as PRSI employees. In some cases where they were employers themselves, they would have collected PRSI from their employees and paid employers’ PRSI, and yet, when their businesses collapse due to the difficult economic climate, they are left high and dry.

“Creating jobs is this Government’s number one priority and in order to encourage indigenous start-up companies, we must have the support systems in place so that people are not discouraged from setting up their own business.

“I have raised this with Minister Burton on a number of occasions and I hope that the advisory group will consider the positive affects this move will provide.”