asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he can state, or give an estimate of, the number of insured persons who will enter the Fourth Benefit Year with sufficient contributions to entitle them to unemployment insurance benefit, and if those who will have sufficient contributions to entitle them to benefit for the maximum period, and the probable average duration of benefit expected to be drawn by insured workers during that year.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - UNEMPLOYED INSURANCE BENEFIT.
TOMAS MAC EOIN
It would not be possible for me to give the statement or estimate required by the Deputy without first having had an individual examination made of the accounts of about 200,000 insured contributors—an undertaking which would occupy much time and involve expense which I could not justify. As only a proportion of the insured contributors will be unemployed at any one time and not always the same persons, I do not feel satisfied that the information would serve any useful purpose. Any statistical information regarding the unexhausted credit of insured contributors must therefore necessarily be confined to those insured contributors who are out of work and who claim benefit.
In the benefit year which finished on 29th October last benefit was allowed on 76,509 claims. That represents total claims made and not the number of individual applicants. For statistical purposes these claims were divided into four groups, according to the amounts of benefit payable against the contributions to claimants' credit, up to the maximum of ten weeks or 60 days fixed by the Act, and it is found that 9,558 were entitled to between 1 and 18 days; 9,873 were entitled to between 19 and 36 days; 7,669 were entitled to between 37 and 48 days; 49,409 were entitled to between 49 and 60 days.
It is expected that most of those falling into the last group will have sufficient contributions to put them in benefit for the current year, but I will not be able before the middle of next month to have the position analysed and to state the extent of the credit of those who will have claimed benefit up to that time. If the Deputy repeated his question about the middle of next month I should be able to let him have statistics in regard to the current benefit year similar to those now supplied in relation to the last benefit year, and also to state the average duration of benefit on the basis of that statistical information.