Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 21: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the fact that a number of part-time firefighters have been refused jobseeker's payments on the stated grounds that the conditions applying to their work as a part-time firefighter impose unreasonable restrictions on the locations at which they can accept work; if, in the interests of public safety, she will amend the rules of the scheme or produce new guidelines on the interpretation of the available for work criterion, to ensure that part-time firefighters are not excluded from such benefits due to the fact that their vital role in the fire service requires them to be in certain geographic locations. [29052/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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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 jobseeker's allowance. Any person who fails to satisfy these conditions 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 of being available for and genuinely seeking work. 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, as well as the age, educational qualifications and 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, he or she 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 he or she 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 he or she is employed as a part-time fireperson. Such action would be taken as placing an unreasonable restriction on his or 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 requirement to fulfil the statutory conditions for entitlement to jobseeker's benefit or allowance would raise equity issues vis-a-vis other claimants to jobseeker's payments. However, taking account of the unusual circumstances of these workers and general efforts to develop and standardise our jobseeker schemes, a group has been established in the Department to examine the position of part-time fire-fighters. This group will report to me over the coming period.