Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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267. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a person taking up an unpaid internship forms part of the live register; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45193/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Live Register is used to provide a monthly series of the numbers of people (with some exceptions) registering for jobseekers benefit or jobseekers allowance or for various other statutory entitlements at the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection’s Intreo centres. The Live Register is not designed to measure unemployment. It includes part-time workers (those who work up to three days per week), seasonal and casual workers entitled to jobseekers benefit and jobseekers allowance.

Social welfare legislation provides that a person must satisfy, amongst other things, the conditions of being available for and genuinely seeking full-time work in order to be eligible for jobseeker’s benefit or jobseeker’s allowance.

A person undertaking a full-time internship, whether paid or unpaid, will not satisfy the standard qualifying conditions, including that of being available for full-time work and so will not be eligible for a jobseekers payment.

There are no plans to change these aspects of the jobseeker’s schemes.