asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of applicants for unemployment assistance in County Donegal who have (a) their means increased and (b) their means decreased, as a result of the new method of assessing means based on poor law valuation introduced on the 1st January, 1966.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Donegal Unemployment Assistance.
39.
The new method of assessment referred to in the question is provided for in section 8 of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1965. It applies to means derived from the beneficial occupation of land and came into operation on the 3rd January, 1966 in specified congested areas which include the county of Donegal. Under section 10 of the Act, landholders who received unemployment assistance or were granted a qualification certificate during the year up to that date, that is, smallholders who might broadly be described as existing recipients of unemployment assistance, were entitled as from that date to have their farm means calculated on either the new basis or the old basis, whichever was the more favourable to them.
As regards (a) in the question, no smallholder applicant for unemployment assistance who was entitled to the section 10 concession has had his means increased as a result of the new method.
With regard to (b), means have been decreased in the case of 285 smallholders in County Donegal to whom the concession applied. In addition, 172 qualification certificates on the new basis have been granted since the 3rd January, 1966 to smallholders in County Donegal who were not entitled to the concession, that is, who were not in the existing recipient category, and 76 further cases of this kind are under attention for decision. While it is not possible to say so with certainty, it is very probable that the means assessment made in these 172 new cases would represent a decrease in means as compared with the old "factual" basis of assessment. Otherwise, the smallholders concerned would, presumably, have been recent recipients of unemployment assistance and thereby eligible for the section 10 concession.
Questions Nos. 40 and 41 postponed.