Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Retained 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.

Taking account of the unusual circumstances of retained fire personnel, a departmental group was established to examine the position of these workers vis-à-vis jobseeker’s benefit and jobseeker’s allowance. I would hope to be able to advance proposals to address the issues arising shortly.