asked the Minister for Social Welfare if it is his policy to deny unemployment benefit to married women on the ground that they are unavailable for work; if so, if he considers such policy to be fair and just; and if not, if he will take steps to ensure that unemployment benefit is paid to married women according to the same criteria applied to everybody else.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Unemployment Benefit for Married Women.
41.
Neither I nor my Department have any separate policy in relation to claims for unemployment benefit from married women, as such, and the same criteria for entitlement are applied equally and impartially to all claimants.
All claims for benefit, including those for unemployment benefit from married women, are decided by statutorily appointed deciding officers. Each claim is decided in the light of the relevant statutory conditions and of the particular facts and circumstances pertaining to it.
In considering a claim for unemployment benefit a deciding officer is obliged to determine on the evidence available to him whether a claimant is "available for employment" which is one of the statutory conditions applying to that benefit. A person who is dissatisfied with the decision of a deciding officer has the right of appeal to an appeals officer. Both deciding officers and appeals officers are appointed statutorily and are independent in the exercise of their statutory functions.
Does the Minister accept that in the original implementation of the social welfare code there was discrimination against married women?
There should not be, and if there is discrimination against married women I would deplore it. This is a very difficult area and I would point out to the Deputy that it is not alone in this country but in Great Britain. There they have very grave difficulty trying to solve this problem of when a married woman is available for work and when she is not.
Does the Minister accept that the fact that a woman is married is accepted as a ground for deciding that she is unavailable for work?
There is a popular belief about that but it is not so and I want to assure the House about that. The decision in each case must be taken by a deciding officer and on appeal by an appeals officer on the basis of the circumstances. He must go into the facts of each case and decide factually whether the woman is free and available for employment. I will quote what the National Insurance Advisory Committee in Britain stated about this:
It has been ruled that availability for employment is a question of fact to be considered in the particular circumstances of each case, but at the same time it was pointed out that availability is to a very great extent an attitude of mind.
I am quoting that as an example of what they think. I do not accept that.
I suggest to the Minister that the criteria in the case of married women were drawn up in the past with reference to the situation of men and that the influx of married women into the labour market has created peculiar circumstances because of women getting married and changing addresses or of having babies. The criteria were originally drawn up for men and those criteria need to be broadened with concern for the circumstances of married women.
I will give the Deputy the assurance that if a married woman has made arrangements to be free and can show she is genuinely seeking employment, she is entitled to benefit.
Is the Minister aware that in many cases married women are being ruled ineligible for work solely because they have children, and that in many cases the only way in which that unfairness is determined is by having her go to the appeals officer and having an appeals verdict introduced? Is it not wrong that a deciding officer should rule her ineligible solely because she had a child?
I could not accept that any deciding officer does that. If he does, he is wrong in doing it and the matter should be drawn to my attention immediately.
In that case would the Minister issue instructions?
I have done so.
I should like to raise on the Adjournment the failure of the Department of Education to take an urgently needed decision about the final examinations for students in St. Catherine's College of Domestic Economy, Sion Hill.
The Chair will communicate with the Deputy. The remaining questions will appear on tomorrow's Order Paper.