asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he will state (a) the number of persons resident in County Donegal who made application for unemployment insurance benefit during the year ending 31st March, 1929, and (b) the number of such applicants whose claims were turned down by the managers of Employment Exchanges.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Unemployment Benefit Applications (Donegal).
The total number of persons who claimed unemployment insurance benefit at local offices in County Tirconaill during the year ended the 19th March, 1929—the date nearest to that mentioned in the question for which information is available—was 1,391. This total is inclusive of any second or subsequent claim made by the same person during the year. In the same period 159 claims were disallowed either by the managers of exchanges or by the insurance officer at headquarters.
Managers are only authorised to disallow claims in cases where the claimant's account shows that he has no contribution to his credit, or has less than the qualifying minimum number of contributions.
I do not think the Parliamentary Secretary has answered the second part of the question, which deals exclusively with the claims that have been turned down by the managers of employment exchanges, apart from the Court of Referees. The Parliamentary Secretary included the claims turned down by the Court of Referees in the second part of the question. Could he give me information as far as the managers alone are concerned?
I do not think it would be possible to give the separate figures. The numbers disallowed by the managers of exchanges or by the insurance officers at headquarters are practically the same. The manager refers them to the insurance officer.
The managers hardly ever turn down anything.