Help! Job seekers allowance + self employed

Please can any one help with this before I approach social welfare. We have been self employed (one long financial struggle)for over a year and made a profit of just under 6k, paying ourselves nothing and using overdraft and borrwing from friends to live. Our business overdraft of 20k is up to 15k in the red. We were selling our house to pay off debts, and borrowed 15k from a friend on the strenght of the house sale. However we couldn't sale the house in the end for lots of reasons, main one being that we had to live somewhere, and our child is starting the local school in sept. I paid back the guy 8k today and I still owe him 7k which I said I'd pay back as soon as my husband and I have jobs when we return to Dublin. We have applied for lots but no luck so far(I kept all correspondance on job hunting) We are now down to nothing. We are in Cork until Aug bank holiday (here since last yr) and moving back to our old (unsold) house then. Are we entitled to job seekers allowance or benefit?We paid PRSI etc as self employed. We are still company directors on paper (will this affect our claim?)cause I don't want to approach our business bank manager yet in case he pulls out on us, and sees we are in trouble, maybe expecting us to repay the overdraft straight away. We are currently living on this and it's fading rapidly, as I am.

Sorry to ramble and I hope you can follow me, but what are we as a family with one child of 4yrs old entitled to? We actively desperately looking for work and would be delighted to get paid work rather than sign on, but we need immediate help in the meantime.

You can claim Jobseeker's Allowance, which is means-tested. You will have to show your most recent accounts. Call to the SW local office in the first place to make your claim, bringing your PPSN, photo ID and Birth Cert (long version)/Passport. Also proof of address. After your claim(s) is taken, your means will be investigated by a SW Inspector, either by desk interview or a visit to your home. It is then you will need to prove your lack of means to live by producing accounts, bank statements, etc.

Thanks for your reply, we got the forms today. However as the loan is in my account and our friend has not yet claimed his 8k bak (he's on hols for another month) will they refuse us on the grounds of having 9k in our account? The other thing is that if they come to the house all our business equipment is still here, though not in use. We have a large format printer etc and plan to sell all when back in Dublin.

All this and your exact situation can be explained to the inspector when he is investigating your means. In the meantime, have a look at how means are assessed here, to ease your worries.