Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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73. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the financial implications in 2016 of changing the eligibility for jobseeker's benefit from days worked to number of hours worked over the course of a seven-day week; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46083/15]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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74. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the financial implications of basing eligibility for jobseeker's benefit on having worked 14 hours or less, 21 hours or less, and 28 hours or less per week; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46084/15]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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88. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the full-year cost of replacing the three-day rule for the payment of jobseeker’s benefits with a sliding scale system determined by hours worked; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46211/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 73, 74 and 88 together.

The jobseeker's benefit and jobseeker's allowance schemes provide income support for people who have lost work and are unable to find alternative full-time employment. The 2015 Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure this year on the jobseekers' schemes of €3.01 billion.

It is a fundamental qualifying condition of both schemes that a person must be fully unemployed for four days in any period of seven consecutive days. A person working four or more days a week will not qualify for a jobseeker's payment, even if they work only a small number of hours on those days.

The Department does not collect data on the number of hours a jobseeker works as this information is not necessary to make a decision on an application for a jobseeker's payment. In this context the cost associated with moving the jobseeker's benefit scheme to an hours-based system, as outlined by the Deputy, cannot be ascertained.

It is recognised that a changing labour market has resulted in a move away from more traditional work patterns, resulting in an increase in the number of persons employed for less than a full week. However, any changes to the current criteria, such as moving to an hours based system, could result in significant numbers of individuals becoming eligible for a jobseeker's payment with substantial corresponding cost implications for the Exchequer.