asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware of the total failure of the salmon fishing industry in County Cork and if in view of the widespread distress prevailing amongst fishermen, he is prepared to extend the provisions of the Unemployment Assistance Act to this deserving class who depend for their living throughout the year on the results of a short seasonal fishing.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Cork Salmon Fishing Failures.
I am informed that the results from salmon fishing fluctuate from year to year and that the results in the year 1937 were poor. With regard to the second part of the question the position is that fishermen are already entitled to the benefits provided by the Unemployment Assistance Acts on precisely the same conditions as other classes, and I have no power to provide any exceptional treatment for them under the Acts.
The Parliamentary Secretary has mentioned the year 1937. Is he not aware that the season for 1938 has been, so far, almost a complete blank? Does he not think that there should be differentiation between these fishermen and the other classes that he refers to in his reply, for the reason that these men have been working, some of them since the beginning of February, and have earned nothing, but, because they have been working on these boats on the share system, they are being deprived of the benefits of the Unemployment Assistance Act?
The Deputy realises, I am sure, that unemployment assistance means unemployment assistance, and that these men, when they are working, cannot be regarded as being unemployed.
The Parliamentary Secretary is, of course, aware that this question has been raised frequently. It has been urged here that there should be differentiation, in cases of this kind, between the words "earning" and "working." That is the whole difficulty. It is much more severe on a man to be working and not earning than to be wholly unemployed. It would surely be much more charitable to extend the benefits of the Unemployment Assistance Act to men who are doing something to earn a living, and who, as in the present case for the reasons stated, have failed completely to do so, than to those who make no effort whatever to earn a living for themselves.