Noel Dempsey
Question:698 Mr. Dempsey asked the Minister for Social Welfare the extra cost to the Exchequer of the higher levels of unemployment in the first six months of 1996. [14980/96]
Written Answers. - Extra Cost of Unemployment.
The social welfare Estimates of expenditure on unemployment for 1996 are based on an average live register forecast of 275,000. The amount provided for unemployment payments in 1996 is £1,013.5 million, including payments to smallholders.
Due to an industrial dispute, now resolved, in An Post, returns of actual expenditure on the unemployment schemes are available only to the end of April 1996 at this stage. On the basis of these returns, it is estimated that the extra cost to the Exchequer of the higher levels of unemployment for the first four months of 1996 is of the order of £3.35 million.