S.I. No. 375/1952:

SOCIAL WELFARE (MATERNITY ALLOWANCE) REGULATIONS, 1952.

SOCIAL WELFARE (MATERNITY ALLOWANCE) REGULATIONS, 1952.

The Minister for Social Welfare, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 3 and 20 of the Social Welfare Act, 1952 (No. 11 of 1952) and of all other powers enabling him in this behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations :--

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Maternity Allowance) Regulations, 1952.

2. These Regulations shall come into operation on the 5th day of January, 1953.

3. In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires--

" the Act " means the Social Welfare Act, 1952 ;

" the Minister " means the Minister for Social Welfare.

4. (1) The expected week of confinement to be specified in any certificate pursuant to paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 20 of the Act shall not be more than eight weeks after the week in which the certificate is given.

(2) Where in respect of a claim to maternity allowance it is certified by a registered medical practitioner or otherwise to the satisfaction of the Minister that a woman has been confined, and no such certificate as is referred to in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 20 of the Act has been given, the provisions of the said paragraph shall for the purposes of that claim be modified and shall apply as if the said paragraph required that it had been certified by a registered medical practitioner or otherwise to the satisfaction of the Minister that the woman concerned had been confined.

(3) Subject to the provisions of sub-article (4) of this article and of article 6, the period for which a maternity allowance is payable in a case to which the foregoing sub-article applies shall be the period of seven weeks beginning with the week in which the confinement occurred, and the provisions of subsection (2) of the said section 20 shall apply to such a case with the modifications necessary to give effect to this sub-article of this article.

(4) Where the woman, in a case to which sub-article (2) of this article applies, abstained, during any period commencing not earlier than the sixth week before the end of the week in which the confinement occurred and terminating with the confinement, from any occupation (other than domestic duties in her own household), and had good cause either for not then making a claim for the payment of maternity allowance or for not furnishing a certificate of expected confinement, the period for which maternity allowance is payable shall, notwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing sub-article but subject to the provisions of article 6, be the period commencing with the first day of the said pre-confinement period of abstention from such occupation and terminating with the sixth week after the week in which the confinement occurred, and the provisions of subsection (2) of the said section 20 shall apply to such a case with the modifications necessary to give effect to this sub-article of this article.

5. (1) Where any question arises as to the correctness of a certificate by virtue of which a woman claims or is entitled to a maternity allowance, she shall, unless the confinement has already occurred, on receipt of not less than three clear days notice in writing given by the Minister, submit herself to medical examination at such time and place as may be specified in the notice with a view to obtaining a further certificate.

(2) Notice of the time and place of the medical examination referred to in the foregoing sub-article shall also be sent to the registered medical practitioner (if any) in attendance on the woman required to submit herself to such examination.

(3) Any reasonable and necessary travelling and subsistence expenses incurred by a woman in attending for, or submitting herself to, medical examination under sub-article (1) of this article shall be paid by the Minister, who shall determine in any particular case what is a reasonable and necessary amount of expenses.

6. A woman shall be disqualified for receiving maternity allowance for such number of days as may be determined under the provisions of the Act--

(a) if, during the period for which the allowance is payable, she engages in any occupation other than domestic duties in her own household, provided that such disqualification shall commence not earlier than the first day on which she engages in such occupation and that, in respect of any such occupation in which she engages before the confinement, she shall not be so disqualified for the day on which the confinement occurs or any day thereafter;

(b) if she fails without good cause to attend for or to submit herself to medical examination in accordance with sub-article (1) of article 5, provided that such disqualification shall commence not earlier than that day on which the failure occurs and that in the event of her being confined after such failure she shall not by reason of such failure be so disqualified for the day on which the confinement occurs or any day thereafter.

7. Where any sum payable by way of maternity allowance would, apart from this article, include a fraction of a penny, that fraction shall be disregarded if it is less than a half-penny and shall be treated as a penny if it is a half-penny or more.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Social Welfare this 23rd day of December, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifty-two.

SÉAMAS Ó RIAIN,

Minister for Social Welfare.