asked the Minister for Social Welfare the total number of women currently in receipt of unemployment benefit and assistance; the estimated total number of women who are currently unemployed; and the estimated additional number of women who will become eligible for unemployment assistance next October.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Women Unemployed.
22.
The total number of women in receipt of unemployment assistance was 12,461 and 1,654, respectively, during the week ended 6 January 1978, the latest date for which these figures are available. The total number of women who were registered as unemployed on the live register at 10 March 1978, the latest date for which this figure is available, was 22,237. The additional number of women who will be eligible for unemployment assistance from October next is estimated at 14,000.
Can the Minister say if the additional women who will be eligible for assistance in October will have the same criteria used against them in so far as an assessment will be made against them in regard to board and lodgings, which will render many of them ineligible for assistance?
I could not accept the phrase: "criteria used against". As I explained yesterday the law as it stands insists that any benefit to which a recipient is entitled must be quantified and taken into account.