asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he has received a resolution from the Arklow Urban Council with reference to continuing unemployment insurance benefit to those persons who have exhausted their claims through continuous unemployment, and, if so, if he will state whether it is intended to introduce legislation on the matter.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BENEFIT.
I duly received this resolution, and the matters to which it refers are under consideration.
Would the Minister state the date on which he intends to introduce legislation, or does he consider those other Bills going through the House at the present time of more importance?
No Bill I have in hands at the moment is more important than the question of unemployment. I have, as a matter of fact, no other Bills in hand, and as to the date that I propose to introduce a Bill, I have not yet stated that I propose to introduce a Bill, and the question of date, therefore, does not arise.
Does the Minister think that the Bills going through at present are more important than the question of distress arising out of unemployment? If that is his opinion, then there will have to be certain opposition put up to those Bills going through, and I am prepared, as one Deputy, to make a start.
The question of whether a Bill with regard to unemployment should be introduced does not depend on any other legislation going through at the moment. The fact that legislation is pending in the Dáil will have no effect in retarding the introduction of an Unemployment Insurance Bill, if that Bill be decided upon.
Our point is that the Bills going through the House are not as important as a grant to those men who are willing to work and cannot get work and who are deprived of unemployment benefit. My opinion is that a Bill in regard to unemployment is more important than the present Bills. If we are not going to have the Unemployment Bill, then these Bills are not going through so easily as they are going through at present. There will have to be some protest made, and there will have to be some scene created to bring public opinion to bear upon the manner in which the unemployed are being treated, regardless of the promises made by different Ministers at elections.