asked the Minister for Social Welfare why an applicant (name supplied) in County Wexford is being paid only £2.35 weekly unemployment assistance.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Wexford Unemployment Assistance.
20.
Unemployment assistance is being paid to the person named at the rate to which he is entitled. This rate represents the difference between the rate of means assessed against him and the maximum rate of unemployment assistance which could be paid in his case from 2nd April, 1975. The applicant's rate of means, which represents the value of free board and lodgings, was determined, on appeal, by an appeals officer whose decision is final in the absence of new facts or fresh evidence.
Does the Parliamentary Secretary consider it just or fair to assess means of £5 a week in the case of this man just because his father is providing him with a bed and meals? I am sure most people will agree there is a moral duty on families to look after one another but there is no legal duty on the parent in this particular case to provide board and lodging for this man and would the Parliamentary Secretary not consider it utterly unjust that means to the extent of £5 per week should be assessed against this man on these grounds?
I would remind the Deputy that this man applied for a qualification certificate in February, 1972, when the Deputy was a supporter of the then Government.
Under the assessment of means at that time he was disallowed completely and were it not for the changes in the 1973 and 1974 budgets this man would not have received any benefit whatsoever. How the Deputy can imply that the situation has worsened and that this type of assessment is being applied only by this Government defeats me. The fact is that when this claimant applied in February, 1972, he was totally disallowed. He is now in receipt of some benefit.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary not agree that, after two years, it is time he and his colleagues gave up talking about what happened two, three or five years ago? Has there been a change in the assessment of means in this type of case? If there has been I am not aware of it. I heard of no change in this type of assessment.
Surely the Deputy is aware that one could not qualify at all if, on that particular basis of assessment, one had an income in excess of £26 a year. That was the position in February, 1972. That figure of 10/- a week, equal to 50 pence per week now, has gone up to £6 a week in two years. That is a very substantial change.
If it has gone up to £6 a week why is this figure of £5 a week taken into consideration in the assessment?
I do not understand the Deputy's question.
The Parliamentary Secretary says bed and board are calculated as worth £5 a week.
I can give the Deputy some further information. The original means of assessment was £7.35 a week and this was reduced to £5 a week. The applicant is now in receipt of a pension for which he would never have qualified—in fact he did not qualify— under the previous Administration's method of assessment and it is only because of the provisions of the 1973 and 1974 budgets that this man is eligible for any pension.
I am calling the next question. We cannot remain unduly long on this.
It is important.
Just one brief supplementary question then.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary not agree that all down the years the assessment of means for a person who lived at home with bed and board was about £1 a week or £1.50 per week?
I would not agree at all. There has been no change in that.
I have been handling these cases for years and I know the very opposite is the case.
I hope the Deputy handled this particular case in 1972 when the man did not qualify at all.