THE GOVERNMENT is to introduce legislation which ensures that part-time firefighters cannot be denied Dole payments for choosing to stay on as part-time fire staff instead of taking full-time work elsewhere.
Part-time (or ‘retained’) firefighters are currently given jobseeker’s payment for the days they spend on call, in addition to a €1-per-hour payment for being on call.
However, this requires them to live within five minutes (or around 1.5 miles) of their station, under the so-called ‘proximity clause’ – which causes difficulty when firefighters are required to seek full-time work whenever they are not on call.
This means that if a firefighter turns down a full-time job elsewhere, because it would mean taking them too far away from their station, they could face the loss of their unemployment benefit.
In one case in 2011, a part-time firefighter moved from Kildare to Drogheda, hoping to secure full-time work in the fire service there. However, they were give only part-time work – and the man’s Dole application was rejected because he was considered to be unavailable for a full-time job elsewhere.
However, TheJournal.ie understands that Joan Burton will now include a clause in the forthcoming Social Welfare Bill which will specifically exclude the ‘proximity clause’ as grounds for denying welfare payments.
The move is likely to affect about 800 of Ireland’s 2,000 retained firefighters, who are thought to be dependant on their benefits in order to maintain their roles in local fire services.
A spokesperson for Burton said the decision was a “recognition of the valuable service which this group of workers provide to their local communities, and the need to maintain the service for the protection and safety of the public.”
Firefighters’ union IFESA had previously claimed that up to a quarter of Ireland’s firefighters could be forced to quit their jobs if the Department of Social Protection cut welfare benefits for part-time staff.
The legislation is expected to go through the Dáil late next month.
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