asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will give more authority and discretionary powers to local officers of employment exchanges so that investigations and reviews may be concluded more expeditiously.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Discretionary Powers and Authority of Employment Exchange Officers.
13.
Every effort is made to ensure the smooth and efficient working of the arrangements for dealing with claims to unemployment benefits or assistance. Managers of employment exchanges are empowered to clear all claims for unemployment benefit and assistance without reference to headquarters where they are satisfied that the conditions for receipt of payment have been fulfilled, and relatively few cases, in relation to the total number dealt with, are so referred.
Proposals for, inter alia, delegation of a further measure of discretionary authority to managers of employment exchanges have, however, been under consideration and will shortly be implemented. Certain cases involving questions of a difficult technical nature and cases in which there are grounds to suspect fraud will, of necessity, continue to be referred to headquarters, but in respect of all such cases the Deputy may be assured that no reasonable effort will be spared to expedite a decision.