Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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183. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to provide an update on her plans to introduce pay-related social insurance benefits for jobseekers; the estimated cost of same; and the estimated the cost to extending this approach in case to maternity benefit, paternity benefit, parents benefit and illness benefit. [19664/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Government approved the draft Heads of Bill on 9th January for the introduction of a new Pay-Related Benefit for jobseekers. The Heads of Bill containing the General Scheme for the new scheme are published on my Department's website.

The committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands completed the pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft bill in March and published its report on the Oireachtas website.

I plan to bring a Memorandum and the Bill to Government in the coming weeks. My Department is working on the necessary arrangements to facilitate the introduction of the scheme in Q4 2024.

Full year costs will not arise until 2026 as people who are in receipt of Jobseeker's Benefit when the new scheme commences will remain on that scheme until their claim is exhausted. Based on 2019 data, pre the impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic, it is estimated that the new Jobseeker's Pay-Related Benefit for fully unemployed jobseekers will cost approximately €130 million in a full year.

Under the Programme for Government, the Government has committed to considering increasing all classes of PRSI over time to replenish the Social Insurance Fund to help pay for measures and changes to be agreed including, inter alia, to the state pension system, improvements to short-term sick pay benefits, parental leave benefits, pay-related jobseekers benefit and treatment benefits.

The Strawman consultation paper for Pay-Related Jobseeker's Benefit stated that feedback received will also help to inform the consideration of potential changes to other short-term income supports for workers who have to temporarily cease work, such as Parental Leave Benefit, Maternity Benefit, and Illness Benefit. However, estimating the cost of extending a pay-related approach to these schemes would require a detailed analysis based on the parameters of these schemes and the proposed model or models which may be considered. For that reason it is not possible to provide a costing at this time.