asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware of the dissatisfaction existing as a result of the method of determining the "means test" of applicants for benefit under the Unemployment Assistance Act, 1933, and whether in cases where such applicants have been granted "plots of land" under the Allotments Amendment Act, 1934, he will state what benefit, if any, unemployed holders of "plots of land" are entitled to under the Unemployment Assistance Act, 1933.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Determination of “Means Test” Under Unemployment Assistance Act.
I am not aware of any dissatisfaction with the method of determining the means of applicants under the Unemployment Assistance Act, 1933. The value of means is determined by an unemployment assistance officer, and if the applicant be dissatisfied with the decision he may appeal to the Unemployment Appeals Committee, whose decision is final and conclusive. any advantage accuring to the holder of a plot granted under the Acquisition of Land (Allotments) (Amendment) Act, 1934, from the use of such plot constitutes means within the meaning of Section 13 of the Unemployment Assistance Act, 1933, and the yearly value of such advantage is determined in accordance with the Act. The Schedule to the Unemployment Assistance Act, 1933, contains the different rates of Unemployment assistance, and an applicant, according to the area in which he resides, the class to which he belongs and the weekly value of his means, is entitled to the rate applicable to him, less one shilling for each shilling or part of a chilling by which the weekly rate of his means exceeds two shillings.
May I ask the Minister was there not an undertaking given to the Plotholders' Association that persons in receipt of unemployment assistance and holding those plots would not be debarred from receiving those benefits; and, further, that in such cases as are referred to the Guards were sent down to measure their plots? Will the Minister devise some means of obtaining the necessary information, and does he not think it unfair that those benefits should be withdrawn without some prior notice?
The persons holding those plots under the Allotments Act are not debarred from receiving unemployment assistance; I should say that in the great majority of cases of such plotholders the value of the advantage, as assessed under the Act, derived from the plot is deemed to be less than 2/- a week, and, consequently, the plot-holder, if he has no other means, is entitled to unemployment assistance at the full rate provided under the Act. There may be exceptional cases where the value is deemed to exceed 2/- but they would be a small minority of the total cases.
Are we to understand from the Minister that the more a man works a plot, the less he will get under the Unemployment Assistance Act?
No.
Will the Minister say in what way income derived from a plot is assessed?
In accordance with the rules laid down under the Act.
Will the Minister say whether it depends on the area of the plot or on the amount produced and taken from it?
On the value of the advantage derived from it.
Will the Minister say how the assessment of that advantage has been arrived at?
In accordance with the principles of assessment of income laid down under the Old Age Pensions Act.
The more a man works, the less he gets.