264. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated annual cost to the Exchequer to increase the number of places on the rural social scheme by 25% or 838 places, 50% or 1,675 places and 75% or 2,513 places; and the associated costs of increasing the number of supervisor places by 25% or 35 places, 50% or 70 places or 75% or 104 places. [37413/24]

265. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated annual cost to the Exchequer of increasing the time limit to participate in the rural social scheme from six to ten years. [37414/24]

266. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated annual cost to the Exchequer of extending participation in the rural social scheme to both spouses in a couple based on the current numbers availing of the scheme; and the projected costs for the future. [37415/24]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 264, 265 and 266 together.

The Rural Social Scheme (RSS) provides opportunities for low-income farmers and fishermen/women who are currently in receipt of specified social welfare payments to work to provide certain services of benefit to rural communities. Communities benefit from the skills and talents of local farmers and fishermen and participants have the opportunity to improve existing skills, or develop new skills, while performing this valuable work in their local communities.

The RSS budget for 2024 is €52.2 million. Based on the current RSS payment rate the estimated full year annual cost to the Exchequer of a 25% increase in the number of places on RSS would be €67.1 million: 50% increase would be €82.0m and 75% increase would be €96.9m.

Again, assuming that the increased number of supervisors supported by RSS remain at the current point of their pay-scale, the estimated cost of increasing the number of supervisors by 25% would be in the region of €6.6 million: 50% increase would be €7.9 m or 75% would be €9.3 million

The Rural Social Scheme is a demand led income support scheme, where participants refer themselves directly to the Implementing Body (IB) that delivers the scheme in the area in which they live. Due to a number of factors, it is not possible at this time to estimate the cost of extending RSS participation to both spouses in a couple, based on information currently available.

A review of the Rural Social scheme was completed and published in July 2024. The report includes a number of recommendations to address the sustainability of the RSS to continue to provide income support, social inclusion, and service delivery in rural communities. My Department is currently examining and exploring the implementation of the report recommendations and this work is currently underway, one of which is the recommendation to extend the scheme to couples engaged in farming/fishing.

Please note the six-year rule, which applied to participants who joined the RSS scheme since February 2017, was removed at the end of June 2022. This change was made in recognition of the impact the rule would have on participants due to leave the scheme since February 2023. This change meant that participants who would have been impacted by the rule, can remain on the scheme until they reach state pension age, as long as they continue to satisfy the eligibility requirements.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.