asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will review the social welfare regulations to provide that where a person drawing unemployment assistance finds temporary employment, he will not be debarred from immediate reinstatement on unemployment assistance when the employment period ends.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Social Welfare Regulations.
16.
The conditions governing the unemployment assistance scheme do not in the normal course preclude a person from immediate re-entitlement to payment where he reapplies after a short spell of temporary employment provided he continues to satisfy the conditions for entitlement.
However, cases do arise in which, due to the need to satisfy the statutory requirement of three days unemployment in any six consecutive days, an applicant may not have the requisite three days of unemployment completed in time for payment on a particular day of payment of unemployment assistance and payment may, therefore, have to be deferred to the following pay-day.
The case I have in mind is a woman who was in receipt of unemployment assistance and who got a temporary job. She was let go and when she applied she was turned down. This person was willing to work. Nowadays people are maligned and it is said they do not want to work. They do want to work. This lady wanted to work. She took employment for a fortnight and, when it was finished, she was debarred from drawing unemployment assistance. We had to send her down to the local health centre to get assistance.
The Deputy is raising a specific case now.
As the Chair has said, the Deputy is raising a specific case of which I have no details. If the Deputy would give me the details as he has outlined them, I will be only too happy to go into the case.
I will do that.