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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 8 Nov 1989

Vol. 392 No. 8

Written Answers. - Unemployment Assistance.

asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will outline the criteria laid down by him to his Department's officers (a) for people who are genuinely seeking work and are refused unemployment assistance (b) the number of people who have been refused unemployment assistance over the past year (c) the number of appeals which have taken place over the same period and (d) the number of staff working in this area.

One of the statutory conditions for the receipt of unemployment benefit and unemployment assistance is that a person must be available for and genuinely seeking but unable to find, employment suitable to him or her having regard to his/her age, sex, physique, education, normal occupation, place of residence and family circumstances. The legislation provides also that the onus is on individual claimants to prove that they are genuinely seeking work. It does not, however, state what form such proof should take. It is accordingly a question for the deciding officers and appeals officers to decide whether any claimant has shown that he or she fulfils the condition having regard to the available evidence. All claimants are asked when claiming for unemployment benefit or assistance to complete a questionnaire regarding their efforts to obtain employment. Claimants may also be asked subsequently at any stage of their claim about this matter. In most cases, the replies given by claimants to this questionnaire will, when taken in conjunction with other evidence available regarding the claimant's employment history, be sufficient to satisfy the deciding officer that the person concerned is genuinely seeking work. If, however, there is any element of doubt about the position, the deciding officer may seek further relevant information on such matters as the extent to which the claimant has made efforts to obtain employment since becoming unemployed; the type of work the claimant is seeking and the reasons for any restrictions which the claimant may be placing on the type of work he or she is available to do and whether the claimant has a history of leaving employments frequently, without good cause.

It is on the basis of the replies given to questions such as these that the deciding officer determines whether the person is or is not genuinely seeking work. Each case has to be considered on its own merits and it is a matter for the deciding officer to decide the exact evidence required in any case having regard to the individual circumstances of the claimant. Any person who is dissatisfied with the decision of a deciding officer has the right of appeal to an appeal officer.

Statistics are not maintained of the number of claimants who are refused unemployment assistance on the basis that they are not genuinely seeking work. The total number of unemployment assistance appeals heard in the 12 months to September 1989 was 1,698. As statistics on the reasons for these appeals are not available, it is not possible to say how many persons who were found not to be genuinely seeking work by a deciding officer appealed against such decision.

There are currently 12 appeals officers who deal with appeals against decisions under all of the Department's schemes.

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