asked the Minister for Social Welfare if unemployment assistance or benefit withdrawn from persons serving prison sentences in respect of offences that are not connected with the social welfare schemes will be paid to their dependants and so relieve them of the necessity of having to rely on home assistance.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Unemployment Payments.
28.
It is a statutory condition for the receipt of either unemployment assistance or unemployment benefit that the unemployed person be available for employment. A person who is excluded from the labour market by reason of serving a sentence of imprisonment cannot satisfy this fundamental requirement for title to unemployment payments. Accordingly, no such payment can accrue in respect of a period of imprisonment and the question of transferring payment to the prisoner's dependants cannot arise.
Would the Minister not agree there would be no question of the person being available for employment and can he say whether the home assistance rate would be equal to the unemployment rate or assistance in these cases or would it be much less?
I can answer the Deputy: it would be very much less.
The statutory regulations governing the payment of unemployment benefit preclude me from making payment in these cases.
Would the Minister not agree that it is wrong morally to inflict this hardship on the family of an imprisoned person? These people who are innocent in matters of this kind should be protected and provided for. Could not the Minister allow benefits to be paid to them? It should be possible to amend the statutory regulations.
The convicted person is fed but his dependents are deprived.
Of course, payment is contingent entirely on the claimant qualifying.
Is there no possibility of amending the statutory regulations?
I would prefer to see the home assistance code amended so as to allow for the necessary provision.
The home assistance is very much less than the unemployment rate.
The Minister is under a delusion here because you cannot and should not transfer either unemployment assistance or unemployment benefit to home assistance because that falls directly on the ratepayers. In other words, he is shirking his responsibility.
I am calling Question No. 29.