I have notified Deputy Dockrell and Deputy Good that amendments 1, 3, 4, 20, 21, 22 and 23 are out of order as irrelevant to this Bill.
Public Business. - Unemployment Assistance Bill, 1933—Committee.
Section I agreed to.
SECTION 2.
(c) every urban district and town the population of which (as shown by the census of population which is for the time being the latest such census) exceeds seven thousand.
I move amendment 2:—
In sub-section (2), line 25, to delete the words "and town."
Amendment agreed to.
Section 2, as amended, agreed to.
Sections 3 to 8, inclusive, agreed to.
SECTION 9.
Question proposed: "That Section 9 stand part of the Bill."
On the section I would like to know from the Minister, in connection with sub-section (3), if it is the intention to have the practice and procedure to be observed by these committees the same as that hitherto observed by, say, the court of referees and the umpire in relation to unemployment insurance so far as they can apply.
The procedure in relation to this committee will be based on the procedure of the Old Age Pensions Appeals Committee. Questions concerning the amount of assistance to be paid, or whether a person is available for work or is unemployed will be determined by the court of referees and the umpire that operate under the Unemployment Insurance Act. Questions relating to the issue of certificates and the calculation of means will be considered by a departmental committee, which will be similar in constitution and in operation to the Old Age Pensions Appeals Committee.
Question put and agreed to.
SECTION 10.
(2) Where an application for a qualification certificate is duly made by a person for the time being entitled under the immediately preceding sub-section to make such application and such person shows in the prescribed manner that he fulfils the conditions, so far as they are applicable, stated in the next following sub-section of this section shall be entitled to receive a certificate (in this Act referred to as a qualification certificate) certifying that he fulfils the said conditions.
(3) The conditions referred to in the foregoing sub-section of this section as the conditions to be fulfilled by a person applying for a qualification certificate are:—
(a) that he is a citizen of Saorstát Eireann;
(b) that he has attained the age of 18 years and has not obtained the age of 70 years;
(c) that his means, calculated in accordance with this Act, do not exceed in case he is resident in a county borough or the borough of Dun Laoghaire, £52 or, in case he is resident elsewhere, £39 per annum or such greater or lesser amount as shall for the time being be prescribed;
(e) that his parents, children, or other relatives are unable to maintain him and that he is not or would not ordinarily be maintained or maintainable by them;
I move amendment 5:—
In sub-section (2), page 6, line 9, to insert after the word "section" the word "he".
Amendment agreed to.
I move amendment 6:—
In sub-section (3) (a), line 15, to delete the word "citizen" and substitute the word "national".
Because of the situation which exists and which all Deputies are aware of, it is necessary to put into this Bill a definition of citizen of Saorstát Eireann. We are changing the word "citizen" to "national" and defining the word "national" by another amendment.
Amendment agreed to.
I move amendment 10 which goes with the last amendment:—
To insert at the end of the section a new sub-section as follows:—
(6) Each of the following persons shall for the purposes of this section be a national of Saorstát Eireann, that is to say:—
(a) a person born in Saorstát Eireann or in the new area now comprised in Saorstát Eireann;
(b) a person born outside Saorstát Eireann or the area now comprised in Saorstát Eireann whose mother at the time of his birth was ordinarily resident in Saorstát Eireann or such area;
(c) a person who at the relevant time is and for not less than five consecutive years immediately preceding that time has been ordinarily resident in Saorstát Eireann.
Amendment agreed to.
I move amendment 7:—
In sub-section (3) (c), line 21, to insert after the word "elsewhere" the words "in Saorstát Eireann."
Amendment agreed to.
I move amendment 8:—
In sub-section (3), to delete paragraph (e).
In a sense amendments 8 and 15 go together. Under the Bill as introduced a person is eligible for a certificate only if his parents, children or other relatives are unable to maintain him and that he is not or would not ordinarily be maintained or maintainable by them. On consideration, it appeared that that particular provision would be very difficult to operate, and consequently it is proposed to delete it and to insert instead, in the section relating to the calculation of means, a paragraph which will permit of the taking into account the value of any benefit personally enjoyed by such person. That will prove to be a simpler and probably a fairer way of calculating the benefit which any person claiming assistance gets in the form of free lodging or free board, or both, from parents or relatives.
Amendment agreed to.
I move amendment 9:—
To insert at the end of sub-section (3) a new paragraph as follows:—
(h) in the case of a widow or spinster who has no dependent, that not less than 52 contributions have been paid in respect of her under the Unemployment Insurance Acts, 1920 to 1930, as amended by any subsequent enactment, during the period of four years immediately preceding the date of the application.
During the course of the Second Reading debate reference was made by Deputy Norton and, I think, by one or two other Deputies, to the absence from the Bill of any provision for single women or widows who had no dependents or were not themselves dependent on any person. When replying on the Second Reading, I explained the general consideration which led to the absence of that provision. Representations have also been made by organisations interested in women workers. These have been examined and discussed, and it has been decided to insert in the Bill a provision permitting of the payment of unemployment assistance at the rates set out in amendment 34 to women and widows in that category who ordinarily follow insurable employment. In order to test the nature of the work which such women ordinarily follow, we propose to require that they shall have had paid on their behalf, in the four years previous to the application for unemployment assistance, not less than 52 unemployment insurance stamps. In other words, that they must have at least one year's insurable employment in the previous four years. The estimated cost of this provision is about £40,000. It is, of course, very difficult to make an estimate that could be regarded as reliable in any sense—the figure may prove too much or too little. It is based upon a number of factors, and in regard to any one of them a mistake might easily be made.
Is this estimate of £40,000 the sum required to the end of the financial year, or is it £40,000 per annum?
It is the sum estimated in an ordinary year. The class of persons who are to be provided for are women and widows, ordinarily employed, and who must at least have 12 months' insurable employment in the past four years. Persons not following an insurable employment, or who have been for a long time out of insurable employment, will not come in under this amendment.
Question put and agreed to.