asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether the application for unemployment benefit of the employees of the Galway Woollen Mills, at present working part time, has been refused, and, if so, whether he will state the reason why.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - GALWAY WOOLLEN MILLS' EMPLOYEES.
In order to qualify for the receipt of unemployment insurance benefit it is necessary for a claimant to prove that he is continuously unemployed. Continuous unemployment for the purposes of the Unemployment Insurance Acts is defined in Section 7 (2) (B) of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, as amended by Section 3 (3) of the (No. 2) Act, 1921.
From inquiries which I have made I have ascertained that in January last the Galway Woollen Mills put their workpeople on a system of short-time by which a number of their employees were engaged three days and unemployed for the remaining three days in each week. This system, which lasted only about two weeks, did not permit the workers to satisfy the condition of continuous unemployment, and consequently unemployment benefit would not have been payable to them in such circumstances. Subsequent to the termination of this system of three days "on" and three days "off" which, as I have stated, lasted only two weeks, the workers were put off and re-employed by the firm according to the fluctuations of the work, and since then forty claims have been lodged by the workers. In no case has benefit been refused, and in only one case is there at present any doubt as to whether benefit will be paid. The doubt in this case arises from the fact that the applicant concerned is a married woman and her claim has been referred to the local Court of Referees to advise whether, in their opinion, and having regard to all the circumstances of her case, she is available for employment, as required by Section 11 (4) of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920.