asked the Minister for Finance if he will state the maximum and minimum wages paid or estimated to be paid to persons employed on relief works, showing the amounts so payable (a) to married men with children (stating the number of children), and (b) to unmarried men with dependents, on the wages basis described recently by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance, namely, the value of the beef, the amount of unemployment assistance, plus 40 per cent. of the total of the foregoing.
Ceisteanna.—Questions. Oral Answers. - Wages on Relief Works.
For works to which the rotational principle is considered applicable the precise amount of wages paid in a given time to each workman will depend not only on the number of his dependents (if any), but also on his place of residence, whether county borough, urban area or other locality, and on his means (if any). All these factors are reflected in the scale of unemployment assistance, and the value of the beef vouchers to which the workman is entitled and the wages paid in a given period will in no circumstances be less than the combined value of the unemployment assistance scale and the beef vouchers to which he is entitled for the corresponding period. The rate of wages in each case will be the standard rate paid in the locality for work of an analogous kind.
Would the Minister say whether it is on the basis of cheap beef the valuation of the beef is made?
The present basis is cheap beef, I understand.