Vol. 399 No. 3
35 Mr. Moynihan asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of people on both unemployment benefit and unemployment assistance who are obliged to sign daily at the employment exchange in Dingle, County Kerry; and the reason for the obligation to sign each day.
Persons claiming unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance are required to satisfy certain conditions in order to qualify for payment. They must establish that they are unemployed, capable of work, available for and genuinely seeking work. An unemployed person is required to attend at a local office of the Department of Social Welfare or at a Garda station or other locations to sign the unemployed register, for the purposes of establishing that these conditions are met.
In response to the increase in the numbers unemployed generally, signing arrangements have been relaxed at local offices in recent years to relieve congestion at the offices concerned, to reduce the pressure on staff and to facilitate clients. However, as I am sure the Deputy will appreciate, there is a balance to be struck between the implementation of signing arrangements which facilitate both clients and staff and the need to ensure that adequate controls are exercised in relation to the unemployment assistance and benefit schemes. For this reason, signing requirements may be altered at a local level where the nature of the claimants usual employment warrants it.
