asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state the number of persons from whom applications for qualification certificates under the Unemployment Assistance Act, 1933, were received up to and including January 31st, 1935, and the number of such applicants to whom qualification certificates were issued; (b) the number of appeals received by the Unemployment Appeals Committee up to and including January 31st, 1935, and the number of such appeals in which decisions have been given; (c) the number of claims to unemployment assistance current each week subsequent to November 1st, 1934; (d) the number of persons to whom payments were made in the week ending February 2nd, 1935, and (e) the total sum represented by such payments.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Unemployment Assistance Applications and Appeals.
The number of applications for qualification certificates received up to and including the 2nd February, 1935, was 255,935.
(a) Up to the 11th February, 1935, 206,484 qualification certificates were issued and in 22,915 cases qualification certificates were refused.
(b) The number of appeals to the Unemployment Appeals Committee received up to and including the 2nd February, 1935, was 30,243, of which 3,619 have been decided by the Committee. In addition, under special arrangements which I have made 4,210 of these appeal cases have been reviewed by unemployment assistance officers and qualification certificates more favourable to the applicants issued in 3,010 cases.
(c) The number of applications for unemployment assistance current on the 5th November, 1934, was 88,560; 12th November, 1934, was 89,875; 19th November, 1934, was 91,712; 26th November, 1934, was 92,678; 3rd December, 1934, was 93,884; 10th December, 1934, 94,953; 17th December, 1934, was 94,831; 31st December, 1934, was 96,666; 7th January, 1935, was 99,233; 14th January, 1935, was 102,310; 21st January, 1935, was 104,340; 28th January, 1935, was 105,875.
(d) In the week ended the 2nd February, 1935, unemployment assistance was paid to 90,631 applicants.
(e) The total amount of unemployment assistance paid in the week ended 2nd February, 1935, was £34,411 4s. 2d.
Could the Minister indicate, from the information he has at his disposal, how many unemployment appeal cases were pending up to the 2nd February, 1935?
If the Deputy will subtract 3,619 from 30,243 he will get the answer.
I rather gathered from the Minister that there were certain other appeals in addition to those.
In certain cases the position of the applicant was reviewed by unemployment assistance officers, having regard to known decisions of the Committee, and new certificates were issued, but the appeals have still to be formally decided.
So that we can take it that, even allowing for these 4,000 cases which were decided in the manner now mentioned by the Minister and the 3,600 cases decided by the Committee, that is the total number of appeals that have been disposed of out of 30,000 appeals received. Am I right in saying that there were approximately 22,000 appeals on hand and undecided on 2nd February, 1935?
Yes.
Can the Minister give us any indication as to when it is likely that that batch of appeals will be disposed of, or can he give us any indication of the daily or weekly rate at which they are being disposed of?
At the present rate at which they are proceeding it would take about two years.
Is the Minister aware that some of the appeals have been pending as long as eight months, and is he satisfied with this slow motion procedure that has been adopted?
No slow motion procedure has been adopted. The Deputy must remember that these are cases in which, in the opinion of the unemployment assistance officer concerned, the applicants are not entitled to assistance, and in which the applicants are exercising their right of appealing against that determination by the unemployment assistance officer. The procedure laid down by the Act itself, however, is being dealt with as rapidly as possible. It must be remembered that every single person who applied for a certificate and was refused a certificate exercised his right of appeal because it cost him nothing to do so. It was inevitable that that would take place, and the appeals are being dealt with as rapidly as possible so far as the procedure, as laid down by the Act, allows.
Is it a fact that the appeals are being dealt with in the order in which they are submitted locally?
No, they are being dealt with in the order received at the head office.
Are the appeals mostly those of people who have appealed on the question of the means tests laid down by the Civic Guards?
That is so.
Could the Minister say whether or not it is possible for him to find some additional machinery for accelerating these appeals? I understand that there is only one Appeals Committee, and while there may be certain subsidiary committees or certain machinery since created for dealing with some kind of appeals, the fact that there is only one Appeals Committee is choking the whole machine. Would the Minister consider the setting up, by means of an amending Act, of a number of appeals committees? It is not much consolation for an applicant to know that he will have to wait for two years to have his appeal considered.
I take it that the Minister's answer indicates that most of the appeals on the question of means have been successful, taking roughly the figures he has given us. In view of his statement that the consideration of the remainder of the appeals will probably take a period of two years, does he not consider that it is a terrible injustice and that it defeats the purpose of the Act entirely, particularly in view of the fact that no payments of arrears are made to the people when their appeals are successful?
Any alteration in the procedure laid down would require fresh legislation. The procedure now adopted is the procedure laid down by the statute.
May I suggest to the Minister that in the cases already dealt with he would probably find a precedent for dealing with the cases still outstanding—I mean that he would probably find a guide in the cases already established which could be applied in bulk to the 22,000 cases still unheard?
That is being done. The appeals are being considered in the light of decisions already made. In some 4,000 cases new decisions by the unemployment assistance officers have been given following the precedents laid down by the Appeals Committee; but, of course, these appeals still appear nominally as awaiting decision, although, in fact, the applicants have received the benefit of the appeal procedure.
Would the Minister consider introducing an amending Act to provide for the setting up of additional machinery with a view to speeding up the procedure?
I would not like to answer that now.
Would the Minister consider having it set up for two years?
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state the number of appeals to the Unemployment Appeals Committee under the Unemployment Assistance Act, 1933, now awaiting decision; the number of such appeals which were lodged prior to November 1st, 1934, and the approximate date on which the appeals now pending will be dealt with.
The number of appeals against either the refusal of an application for a qualification certificate or against the determination of the applicant's weekly rate of means, corresponding to the annual rate calculated in accordance with the Unemployment Assistance Act, 1933, which await decision by the Unemployment Appeals Committee on the 11th February, 1935, was 26,624. Of these 17,718 were lodged prior to the 3rd November, 1934. Having regard to the difficult nature of the questions involved and to the fact that the decisions of the Committee are final, progress is necessarily slow and the Unemployment Appeals Committee are unable to fix a time within which the appeals now pending can be disposed of. Under special arrangements made by me, cases in which appeals have been lodged are pending the consideration and decision of the appeals by the Unemployment Appeals Committee, being reconsidered by unemployment assistance officers and where the facts so warrant revised decisions, favourable to the applicants given. Under these arrangements over 4,000 of those cases under appeal have been reviewed.
In view of the fact that the Minister is not able to indicate an approximate date when these appeals will be decided, and since he has indicated in the answer to Question 7 that some of them will take two years, will he bring that fact to the notice of the Executive Council and cause some instructions to be issued to boards of health to the effect that some of these applicants are likely to be without benefit for two years? My reason for that is that it is the experience of Deputies on all sides of the House that, where applicants are eligible for this unemployment assistance, boards of health are not paying them home assistance. It appears now that some of them are going to have to hold on for two years.