Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 159: To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide an update on the work of the group established to examine the position of part-time firefighters in relation to their entitlement to jobseeker's benefit or allowance. [34956/11]

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 firefighters are entitled to a jobseeker's payment in respect of days that they are engaged in firefighting 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. While the importance of retained fire brigade personnel is fully recognised, 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-À-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 firefighters in relation to unemployment payments. The issues involved in this area are detailed and considerations by the group are ongoing.