asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he is aware that, during the present period of bad weather, numbers of building and other workers, who have not been laid off, are attempting to subsist on an income from wet-time insurance which is considerably lower than what they would receive in unemployment benefit; and whether he will take immediate steps to ensure that at least in such unusual emergencies wet-time insurance payments are raised to an equitable level.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Wet-Time Insurance Payments.
43.
The two forms of benefit to which the Deputy refers are not strictly comparable. Wet time benefit is designed to compensate an insured person for loss of wages due to broken time in the course of his employment and is paid to him by the employer on an hourly basis. Unemployment benefit is not payable unless the person is wholly unemployed. Current wet time benefit rates, calculated on the basis of a full week's interruption of work, would in some cases exceed and in other instances be lower than the weekly rate of unemployment benefit.
The Wet Time Fund is composed entirely of contributions from employers and employees and changes in rates of benefit are not made without consultation with their representatives. As I indicated to the House on 13th November last discussions took place between officers of my Department and trade union representatives and the latter indicated that they would communicate further with my Department on the question of the rates of wet time benefit.
I am not opposed to changes in the wet time scheme and when I hear from the trade unions, I will have the matter pursued without delay.