asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce whether he received from the Arklow Urban District Council copy of a resolution directing attention to the hardship inflicted on fishermen who are deprived of benefit under the Unemployment Insurance Acts and the Unemployment Assistance Acts whenever they go out fishing, irrespective of the result of their enterprise, and whether he is prepared to regard as evidence that they are seeking work only the fact that they go out fishing, unless it can be shown that there is a catch from which they derive an income equal to the amount of the benefit to which they would be entitled if unemployed.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Fishermen and Unemployment Assistance.
The reply to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The resolution of the Arklow Urban District Council is at present under consideration in my Department.
There is nothing in the Unemployment Insurance or Assistance Acts to prohibit an insurance officer or unemployment assistance officer from taking into consideration as evidence that an applicant is genuinely seeking work, the fact that he engages in fishing, but in determining whether such an applicant is entitled to unemployment insurance or assistance during the period while he is so engaged, the unemployment assistance officer must have regard to the other provisions of the Acts. Any applicant who is aggrieved by the determination of an unemployment assistance officer has the right of appealing to the court of referees and, in certain circumstances, to the umpire.