Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 109: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the arrangements she has made to ensure that previously established social welfare payments continue to be made available to the part-time fire service operatives employed by the local authorities; if her attention has been drawn to the need to ensure such arrangements are in order to provide for an adequate fire fighting service in the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18418/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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There has been no change in the conditions for the jobseekers schemes for part-time firefighters. 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 firefighters are entitled to a jobseeker's payment in respect of days that they are engaged in fire-fighting or training. However, they must continue to be available for and genuinely seeking work. In this respect, Deciding Officers do not treat them differently to any other jobseekers. 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 claimant. 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 they 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 a jobseeker to hold themselves available exclusively for employment that is within a restricted distance of a fire station where they are employed as a part-time firefighter. Such action would be taken as placing an unreasonable restriction on availability for full-time employment. While the importance of retained firefighting personnel is fully recognised, the introduction of special arrangements exempting them from the requirements to fulfil any of the statutory conditions for the jobseeker schemes would raise equity issues vis-À-vis other jobseekers and I have no plans to introduce any such special arrangements.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 110: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will respond to correspondence from a person (details supplied) in Dublin 3; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18313/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the department by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support to eligible persons living in private rented accommodation, whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source.

Rent supplement is subject to a limit on the amount of rent that an applicant may incur. Rent limits are set at levels that enable the different types of eligible household to secure and retain basic suitable rented accommodation, having regard to the different rental market conditions that prevail in various parts of the State. The objective is to ensure that rent supplement is not paid in respect of overly expensive accommodation having regard to the size of the household and market conditions.

The Executive has advised that rent supplement in excess of the current maximum rent limits, applicable to the household circumstances of this particular case, was paid as an exceptional measure for a three month period from 12 January 2009 to 4 April 2009. The person concerned was advised on 2 February 2009 that rent supplement in excess of the relevant rent limits was being paid for a period of 12 weeks in order to allow him time to secure accommodation within the prescribed maximum rent limits. The person concerned was also advised of his right to appeal against this decision to a HSE Appeals Officer. To date, no appeal has been received.