Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour)

I wish to bring to the attention of the House anomaly in the social welfare code regarding the entitlement of retained firefighters to jobseeker's allowance which is affecting many of them across the country and in my constituency, Clare. Clare has 77 retained firefighters based at Ennis, Shannon, Scarriff, Ennistymon, Kilkee, Killaloe, and Kilrush fire stations. There is only one full-time firefighter in the whole of the county.

A retained firefighter will be paid €8,000 per year, a remuneration that everyone will accept could not support a family. The number of call-outs has also reduced significantly, so a supplementary amount the firefighters earned for call-outs is considerably down too.

In better times, most of the retained firefighters had other employment locally. In the current economic climate, however, unemployment is high and local jobs are not as easily available. One condition of jobseeker's allowance, or dole as it is commonly called, is that recipients are available for work. When firefighters are on call, they must be within 2 km of their fire station, however. Deciding officers from the Department of Social Protection have concluded these firefighters are placing unreasonable restrictions on their availability to work, therefore not entitling them to jobseeker's allowance. It is also somewhat unfair as there are not many jobs available in many of the surrounding areas in question.

Up to a quarter of retained firefighters in Clare were getting jobseeker's allowance. Some have been informed they are entitled to it; others, that they are not. As they may not be called out 19.5 hours a week, they do not qualify for family income supplement. If they leave the fire service, they will not be entitled to other social welfare payments because they voluntarily left work.

More importantly, if they left the fire service, where would that leave an essential community service? These men and women who put their lives on the line to provide a service to our communities are essentially being penalised by the social welfare code. This is an obvious anomaly and contrary to what the Government wants to achieve in making it attractive to work and provide a service to one's community. This anomaly needs to be addressed.

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