asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that owing to the delay on the part of his Department in effecting payment under the Unemployment Assistance Act in the area of the South Cork Board of Public Assistance, the Board was compelled to give weekly amounts of home assistance to the relief of unemployed persons to the amount of about £3,000 and if, as this sum will probably be considered an illegal expenditure by the Board's auditors, the Minister will refund to the Board from the appropriate source such sum of £3,000 illegally paid by the Board.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Delay in Payment of Unemployment Assistance
I am not aware that there has been any delay in paying unemployment assistance in Cork or elsewhere to those who have received qualification certificates and have applied for payment. The determination of the question whether or not applicants for qualification certificates fulfil the statutory conditions for the receipt of such certificates involves full examination of all the relevant circumstances of the applicants. In the case of applicants who possess means within the meaning of Section 13 of the Act the calculation and determination of the yearly value of such means take considerable time but there has been no avoidable delay. Statutory requirements must be complied with. The work of dealing with the large number of applications for qualification certificates is proceeding as rapidly as possible. The Unemployment Assistance Act does not make illegal any payment of home assistance that was not illegal before the Act came into operation. There is no fund at my disposal out of which I could make the payment suggested by the Deputy.