asked the Minister for Social Welfare the conditions under which his Department will permit unemployment benefit to be paid to persons undertaking short retraining courses, non-AnCO, with a view to employment; and if training with a view to selling insurance is permissible.
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefit.
38.
The Social Welfare Acts provide that entitlement to unemployment benefit is subject to the conditions that a claimant must be available for and genuinely seeking work. Questions as to whether a claimant complies with those requirements are determined by deciding officers and appeals officers appointed under the Acts and each case is decided on its merits on the basis of the particular circumstances pertaining to it. Accordingly it would be a matter for a deciding officer to determine, by reference to the facts of any case, whether or not a particular claimant who is participating in a training course, complies with the availability condition.
Within the criteria for determining availability for work the Department, while retaining the right of deciding officers to decide each case on its merits, is always prepared to discuss with interested parties as to whether participation in particular courses could adversely affect title to benefit. However as a general proposition, it may be taken that persons involved in full time educational or training courses cannot be regarded as fulfilling the conditions for receipt of unemployment payments.