asked the Minister for Social Welfare whether he is aware (i) that when a person in receipt of unemployment assistance is engaged for any period as a carter by a local authority his claim is subject to reinvestigation and his earnings as carter assessed against him, and (ii) that this may cause severe hardship; and, if so, whether he will have the matter remedied.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Carters' Unemployment Assistance Claim.
In the calculation of means under the Unemployment Assistance Acts all income which an applicant may reasonably expect to receive during the succeeding year, but excluding, amongst other things, all moneys earned by such applicant in respect of current personal employment under a contract of service, has to be taken into consideration. Under this heading all income earned from any form of self-employment is assessed as means after due allowance has been made for the necessary expenses incurred in the earning of this income.
In the case of a carter employed by a local authority, his earnings are not assessed if unemployment insurance contributions are paid in respect of the carting. Where unemployment insurance contributions are not paid, each case is examined and a decision is given on its merits. A small farmer who is a carter employed by a local authority for a short period or periods each year is not generally assessed with his earnings as carter if it is shown that the work is really in lieu of work on the roads which he would normally otherwise have been getting each year. On the other hand, a small farmer or other person employed regularly as a carter by a local authority where unemployment insurance contributions are not paid, generally, has his earnings, less deductions for the upkeep of horse and cart, assessed as means. All such cases are determined by an unemployment assistance officer, subject to the usual rights of appeal by the applicant.
If the Deputy will give me particulars of any case in which he considers that hardship has occurred, I shall have the matter investigated.