Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 176: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will restore the heretofore entitlement of the members of part-time fire services to a social welfare payment thereby providing a vital service to the State at low cost; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9465/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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There has been no change in the treatment of firefighters for jobseeker's payments. Social Welfare legislation provides that a person must satisfy the conditions of being available for and genuinely seeking work in order to be entitled to jobseeker's benefit or allowance. Any person who fails to satisfy these conditions on an on-going basis is not entitled to a jobseeker's payment.

Part-time fire-fighters are entitled to a jobseeker's payment in respect of days that they are engaged in fire-fighting or training. They are, however, required to satisfy the statutory conditions for the receipt of a jobseeker's payment i.e. they must continue to be available for and genuinely seeking work and, in this respect, Deciding Officers do not treat them differently to any other jobseeker's benefit or allowance claimant.

In applying the legislation, Deciding Officers have regard to the availability of job vacancies in the locality, the age and educational qualifications together with the family circumstances of the particular claimant. Regard is also had to the extent to which a claimant has sought to take advantage of existing labour market opportunities in their locality.

The legislation does not impose any restriction or limitation on the right of a person to the opportunity to engage in the employment of his or her choice. Where a person is seeking work in his or her usual employment and there is a reasonable prospect of securing work of that nature she or he would normally satisfy the conditions for receipt of payment.

After a period of unemployment, a person must be prepared to accept any employment for which she or he is qualified. It is a principle of the availability for work condition that a person's unemployment must be involuntary and it is not possible for an unemployed person to hold herself or himself available exclusively for employment that is within a restricted distance from a fire station where she or he is employed as a part-time fireperson. Such action would be taken as placing an unreasonable restriction on his/her availability to secure full-time employment.

While the importance of retained fire brigade personnel is fully recognised, the introduction of special arrangements exempting them from the requirements to fulfil any of the statutory conditions for entitlement to jobseeker's benefit or allowance would raise equity issues vis-À-vis other claimants to jobseeker's payments and there are no current plans to make any changes to this legislation.