I welcome this morning's news that self-employed people and business owners could be treated in the same way as PAYE workers from the next budget, as set out in the standing up for small business campaign, which the Taoiseach will launch next week.

It has not been implemented yet.

Senator Byrne, I have allowed Senator Noone to make a brief comment so let her------

This is policy and this is what will be happening. The two main changes involve reducing the higher rate of USC paid by business owners and allowing self-employed people to claim unemployment benefit should they find themselves unemployed, which is long overdue. There will also be a return of tax rebates towards redundancy costs for businesses forced to lay off staff, which was the case before the recession when businesses were assisted with up to 60% of redundancy costs. These measures are most welcome as self-employed workers have been forced to bear a greater burden of the austerity taxes introduced after the collapse of the economy. I hope this standing up for small businesses campaign will deliver on its stated mission to level the playing field between self-employed and PAYE workers as it is clear that self-employed people are paying more tax yet if they get into trouble, they receive fewer supports and that needs to change.

Currently, self-employed workers whose businesses go to the wall are forced to endure an arduous means test process to receive social welfare payments. For many tradesmen, small business owners or taxi drivers, this often means they are deprived of supports they would receive if they were regular PAYE workers. This situation is wrong and I hope this policy will remedy that inequity.