Michael Ring
Ceist:590 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason a person (details supplied) in County Mayo has been refused unemployment assistance for the three days a week that they do not work. [30997/03]
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
A person must be available for and genuinely seeking full-time work to qualify for unemployment assistance. The person concerned applied for unemployment assistance on 14 November 2003. A deciding officer disallowed the unemployment assistance claim of the person concerned from 14 November 2003 on the grounds that she is not available for or genuinely seeking full-time employment. The person concerned is engaged in part-time employment and has stated that she is not available for full-time work. She also failed to provide evidence that she was genuinely looking for full-time work. It is open to the person concerned to appeal this decision and a form for this purpose was issued to her on 3 December 2003. Under social welfare legislation, decisions in respect of claims must be made by deciding officers and appeals officers who are statutorily appointed. I have no role in regard to making such decisions.
Michael Ring
Ceist:591 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if the ESB will carry out a review of the free electricity units on the electricity account of a person (details supplied) in County Mayo. [30999/03]
The review to which the Deputy refers is a matter between the customer and the ESB. My Department has no function in respect of it. The review is carried out on an annual basis, usually in November, in cases where the social welfare customer has a separate meter for night-saver use and has unused free electricity units on the normal domestic tariff. A credit in respect of the unused units is applied to the night-saver account each year following this review. My Department has been informed by the ESB that it notified the person concerned on 5 December 2003 that it had undertaken a review of her electricity account and that an adjustment credit of €124.58 will be applied to her next bill.
Michael Ring
Ceist:592 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if the ESB will carry out a review of the free electricity units on the electricity account of a person (details supplied) in County Mayo. [31000/03]
The review to which the Deputy refers is a matter between the customer and the ESB. My Department has no function in respect of it. The review is carried out on an annual basis, usually in November, in cases where the social welfare customer has a separate meter for night-saver use and has unused free electricity units on the normal domestic tariff. A credit in respect of the unused units is applied to the night-saver account each year following this review. It is understood that the ESB is re-designing its billing system and intends to provide for automatic crediting of unused general tariff units to night-saver usage on a more frequent basis. In the meantime, customers who need such a review can request it at their local ESB office.