Ballyhoura Development employs over 60 people on the Rural Social Scheme (RSS), which is an employment support scheme designed to support farmers and fisherpersons who are in receipt of long-term social welfare payments. RSS employees are employed for 19.5 hours per week to provide certain services of benefit to rural communities.
Within the Ballyhoura area, the majority of RSS roles are centred on:
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At present, we are particularly interested in recruiting participants who have skills in the areas of:
To be eligible to work on the Rural Social Scheme, you must be an active farmer or the spouse/civil partner/co-habitant, daughter, son, brother, or sister of an active farmer. This also includes grandparents/grandchild/niece/nephew and aunt/uncle and in-laws of active farmers.
An active farmer must be:
Participant Requirement:
The eligibility criteria, to work on the RSS, have been broadened to include 3 new categories.
A pilot will be running throughout 2026 to broaden the reach of the RSS, and to provide more opportunities for people to join the Scheme.
A rural dweller is categorised as a person who is: 50 years or over, in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment (all listed above) and whose primary residence is in a rural area. Applicants joining the RSS through this pilot do not need access to a Herd Number or have any connection to farming.
2. Defined Connection
RSS is available to a person who is 25 years or older, in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment and has a “defined” connection to the farming number. This person must be actively engaged in farming and may have immediate access to RSS subject to the availability of an RSS placement.
A “defined” connection is described as
OR
A “family member” is described (including in-laws) as follows:
The farming number may only be used once to access the RSS through the defined connection provision.
3. Couples engaging in Farming
RSS is available to the spouse/civil partner/cohabitant of a Farmer. The spouse/civil partner/cohabitant must be 25 years or older, actively engaged in farming/fishing and in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment.
To note, eligibility is also extended to the spouse/civil partner/ cohabitant of a current RSS participant who is in receipt of a qualified adult allowance. This person must be 25 years or older and actively engaged in farming
In this instance, the farming number or fishing licence may be used more than once to qualify for RSS. The person accessing RSS through this provision must provide consent from the farming number owner(s) or fishing license holder(s). This consent can be provided by completing the RSS2 form.
Any groups interested in support through RSS, can complete the following form. Must be a community/ voluntary organisation or Social Enterprise/ Charity.
Group Application Form for the Scheme Support
Contact Maria Hester at [email protected] / 086-1981638 or John Scanlan at [email protected] / 087-6528105 for more information on the RSS.
Full details of the Scheme are available on the following link: https://www.gov.ie/en/service/059da9-rural-social-scheme/
This Role Includes: Power washing, cutting grass and maintaining hedges for community groups. Read more
This Role Includes: Caring for the animals on the farm, maintaining the crops, collecting and packing eggs, interacting and engaging with service users. Read more
This Role Includes: Maintaining approach roads in the town, cutting grass, planting flowers and collecting rubbish. Read more
This Role Includes: Tidying the shop, stacking shelves, pricing items, sorting through donations, working on the till, assisting customers. Read more