Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 February 2026
180. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of applications for jobseeker’s benefit refused since 2016 where the applicant’s primary prior income derived from elite sports participation supported by State high-performance funding; and the grounds on which such refusals were made. [15642/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraJobseeker's Benefit is a payment for people between 18 and 66 years of age who are part-time, casual, short-time and seasonal workers, those whose employment is based around the school or academic year and retained fire-fighters. Pay-Related Jobseeker's Benefit was introduced in March 2025, and is a payment for people between 18 and 66 years of age who are fully unemployed. These are Social Insurance, not Social Assistance, payments. Consequently, eligibility for these payments is based on a person's PRSI record, amongst other qualifying criteria. Jobseeker's Allowance is a Social Assistance based scheme, and is a means-tested payment for people who are unemployed aged 18 to 66. While this payment is means tested, detailed data on income sources such as that highlighted by the Deputy is not available.
Claim processing statistics are collected in aggregate on a per-scheme basis and detailed reasons for claims refusals are not available. My Department's Annual Statistics Report provides details on the number of claims registered, awarded, and refused, on a multi-year basis. An excerpt from the 2024 report showing the number of refusals is set out below.
Jobseeker's Allowance and Jobseeker's Benefit Claim Refusals 2019-2024
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
|
Jobseeker's Allowance |
8877 |
11856 |
9423 |
11859 |
13625 |
15498 |
|
Jobseeker's Benefit |
3419 |
4751 |
4658 |
5907 |
7738 |
9737 |
