John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

Social welfare legislation provides that if a person is to be entitled to jobseeker's payment, he or she must satisfy the conditions of being available for and genuinely seeking work. Anyone who fails to satisfy these conditions on an ongoing basis is not entitled to jobseeker's payment. Unlike other jobseekers, who must sign off the live register on any day on which they find work, part-time firefighters are paid jobseeker's payment in respect of days on which they are engaged in firefighting or training. However, they are required to satisfy the statutory conditions for the receipt of jobseeker's payment. They must continue to be available for and to be genuinely seeking work. In this respect, deciding officers do not treat them differently from any other jobseeker.

In applying the legislation, deciding officers have regard to the availability of job vacancies in the locality, the age and educational qualifications of the person making the claim and his or her family circumstances. The legislation does not impose any restriction or limitation on the right of a person to engage in the employment of his or her choice. If a person is seeking work in his or her usual form of employment and there is a reasonable prospect of securing work of that nature, he or she will normally satisfy the conditions for receipt of payment. If no work is available locally, however, the jobseeker must seek employment in the surrounding areas. It may be necessary for him or her to extend his or her availability to different categories of employment rather than confine his or her availability to a particular type of work. After a period of unemployment, a person must be prepared to accept any employment for which he or she is qualified.

It is a principle of the availability for work condition that a person's unemployment must be involuntary. Furthermore, a person must not limit his or her opportunities for work by only seeking employment within a restricted distance of a fire station in which he or she may be employed as a part-time firefighter. Such action would be seen as placing an unreasonable restriction on his or her ability to secure full-time employment. A person may be regarded as not being available for work if he or she imposes unreasonable restrictions on the nature of the employment, the hours of work, the rate of pay, the duration of the employment, the location of the employment or other conditions of employment which he or she is prepared to accept. A deciding officer may impose a disallowance in a case where a person refuses an offer of suitable employment or where he or she imposes unreasonable restrictions on the location of the employment he or she is prepared to accept. Any person who is dissatisfied with a decision given by a deciding officer may appeal the decision to the independent social welfare appeals office. While the importance of retained firefighters is fully recognised, the introduction of special arrangements exempting them from the requirement to fulfil the statutory conditions for entitlement to jobseeker's payment would raise equity issues vis-À-vis other jobseekers. In applying the legislation, deciding officers do not treat part-time firefighters differently from any other person claiming jobseeker's payment.

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