asked the Minister for Social Welfare when a decision will be made regarding the application of a person (name supplied) in County Louth who first applied for benefit in January 1975 and who cannot be paid as his 1973 insurance card was not sent to the Department although he was employed for the full year.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Louth Benefit Claim.
16.
A decision could not be given on the benefit claim of the person referred to by the Deputy until necessary enquiries were completed regarding his employment from 1972 onwards in respect of which employment contributions have not been paid. Pending the collection of the outstanding contributions, they have now been treated as paid for benefit purposes and the amount of disability benefit due has been issued to the claimant.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary agree that from January until now is rather too long when he considers that the social welfare officer lived in the same town in which the factory is located and that it was only a question of walking down the street to get the information?
I do not think it was a question of the social welfare officer just having to walk down the street. There seemed to be some difficulty in obtaining the information.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary agree that the social welfare office and the factory are in the one town?
It is not a question of geographical location. It is a question of trying to establish whether the employer had stamped the cards. There was and still is some difficulty in establishing that.