Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As part of "available for employment and genuinely seeking work", I am going back to the Senator's example in respective of the acting profession. Suppose somebody is an actor, it is customary for such people to take part-time work elsewhere in, say, teaching or any type of work. If an actor has long spells of unemployment because he or she is unable to get work, it may be possible from time to time to suggest that, perhaps, he or she should seek other work if the acting career is not taking off.

On the other hand, there is sympathy shown to a person who is routinely employed but is out of work between shows or rehearsals, although sympathy varies from office to office unless an actor can say that he or she is waiting for the next show to commence, say for a period of two weeks, and can give specific details. There is generally an amount of sympathy given in locations that have theatres and people involved in acting and the arts.

I shall outline what happens when suitable employment becomes available. Under the current activation mode if an actor has not worked for a long time but something suitable comes up then he or she will be greatly encouraged to take up the offer or, as I said earlier, return to education or some other activity.