Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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143. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if he has examined and costed, moving to a system based on hours worked rather than days worked, to qualify for jobseeker's allowance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21482/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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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 2016 Estimates for the Department provide for expenditure this year on the jobseekers’ schemes of €2.8 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 additional individuals becoming eligible for a jobseeker’s payment with substantial corresponding cost implications for the Exchequer.