asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether it has been brought to his notice that a number of people who were removed from slum clearance areas in Cork City to the houses erected by the Cork Corporation—Spangle Hill—are not entitled to receive unemployment assistance at the rate applicable to unemployed persons in Cork City, and that the people concerned are not eligible for employment on relief schemes promoted by Cork Corporation; whether in fact the Cork Corporation has requested him to amend the Unemployment Assistance Acts so as to extend the rate of benefit applicable to city workers to include unemployed men residing in the Spangle Hill area, and, if so, whether he intends introducing proposals for legislation for this purpose.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Unemployment Assistance in Cork.
I am informed that a number of persons formerly resident in the County Borough of Cork were, in the process of the clearance of slum areas, transferred to a place outside the borough boundaries and I have been requested by the Corporation of Cork to amend the Unemployment Assistance Act so as to extend the rates of unemployment assistance applicable to residents in the county borough to persons resident in Spangle Hill, which is, I understand, situated outside the boundaries of the county borough. It is clear that the rates of unemployment assistance payable within the county borough cannot be paid to persons resident outside that area and these rates cannot be extended to certain persons resident in the immediate neighbourhood of, but outside, the city boundary without general extension. I do not propose to introduce legislation to meet a case of this description. If the Council of the Cork County Borough, which is the body responsible for the transfer of the men in question, might see fit to take steps to extend the boundaries of the county borough, so as to bring those persons into the city, or provide some other form of compensation, I would raise no objection. I should add, however, that wherever the city boundaries are placed, there will be recipients of unemployment assistance just outside them who therefore cannot receive the city rates.
Is the Minister aware of the immense difficulties involved in the suggestion he has made with regard to an extension of the borough boundary?
I am satisfied that the difficulties in extending the borough boundary are much less than the difficulties in amending the Unemployment Assistance Act in the manner suggested by the Deputy.