Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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400. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if there are any circumstances in which her Department will consider assisting persons leaving the country with the cost of doing so bearing in mind that they would be signing off from claiming benefits thus saving the Exchequer cost in the long term; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25682/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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An unemployed person may qualify for jobseeker's benefit or jobseeker's allowance. Jobseeker's benefit is based on a person's social insurance record and jobseeker's allowance is based on weekly means. A fundamental qualifying condition for a jobseeker's payment is that a person must be available for full-time work.

Under EU Regulations, in certain circumstances a person on jobseeker's benefit may retain payment for a period of up to 13 weeks, while seeking work in another EU Member State. However, it is not possible to transfer jobseeker's allowance in the same way. Jobseeker's allowance is listed by EU Regulation 883/2004 as a special non-contributory cash benefit and, as a result, it is paid “exclusively in the Member State in which the persons concerned reside, in accordance with its legislation”. A jobseeker's allowance customer, to retain his or her payment, is therefore required to remain in the State.

Locally, however, arrangements may be made between a local office and a person on jobseeker's allowance, permitting the person to travel abroad for a job interview or a short holiday. There are no plans to introduce a scheme of assistance for persons leaving the country.