S.I. No. 291/1956:

SOCIAL WELFARE (UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT) (ADDITIONAL CONDITION) REGULATIONS, 1956.

SOCIAL WELFARE (UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT) (ADDITIONAL CONDITION) REGULATIONS, 1956.

I, BRENDAN CORISH, Minister for Social Welfare, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 and subsection (5) of section 17 of the Social Welfare Act, 1952 (No. 11 of 1952), hereby make the following regulations :--

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Unemployment Benefit) (Additional Condition) Regulations, 1956.

2.--(1) In these Regulations--

" the Act of 1956 " means the Social Welfare (Amendment) Act, 1956 (No. 24 of 1956) ;

" contribution year " has the same meaning as in the Social Welfare (General Benefit) Regulations, 1953 ( S.I. No. 16 of 1953 );

" existing contributor " has the meaning assigned to it by Regulation 4 of the Social Welfare (Unemployment Benefit and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Transitional) Regulations, 1953 ( S.I. No. 2 of 1953 ) ;

" ordinary rate employment contributions " means employment contributions under paragraph 1 of the Second Schedule to the Principal Act (whether such contributions were paid in respect of periods before or after the coming into operation of subsections (1) to (5) of section 4 of the Act of 1956) or paragraph 6 of that Schedule, as modified by the Social Welfare (Modifications of Insurance) Regulations, 1953 ( S.I. No. 10 of 1953 ), or paragraph 7 of that Schedule, as modified by the Social Welfare (Modifications of Insurance) Regulations, 1956 ( S.I. No. 236 of 1956 ) ;

" period of interruption of employment " includes any day to which Article 9 of the Social Welfare (Disability, Unemployment and Marriage Benefit) Regulations, 1953 ( S.I. No. 7 of 1953 ), applies ;

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

" special rate employment contributions " means employment contributions under paragraph 3 of the Second Schedule to the Principal Act, as modified by the Social Welfare (Modifications of Insurance) Regulations, 1953, or as amended by section 4 of the Act of 1956 and modified by the Social Welfare (Modifications of Insurance) Regulations, 1956.

(2) References in these Regulations to the Principal Act or the Act of 1956 or regulations made under the Principal Act or the Principal Act, as amended by the Act of 1956, shall be construed as references to that Act or those regulations as amended or extended or modified by any subsequent enactment or regulations.

3. Subject to Article 4 of these Regulations, a female person shall not in the period commencing on the 3rd day of December, 1956, and ending on the 1st day of December, 1957, be entitled to unemployment benefit in respect of any earlier day in a period of interruption of employment than the first day in that period of interruption of employment in respect of which unemployment benefit is claimed in the said period commencing on the 3rd day of December, 1956, and in respect of which such person as well as satisfying the relevant contribution conditions for that benefit satisfies the additional condition that--

(a) the number of ordinary rate employment contributions paid in respect of her in respect of the contribution year which commenced on the 4th day of July, 1955, is not less than twenty-six, or

(b) where the date of her entry into insurance is a date subsequent to the 4th day of July, 1954, the number of ordinary rate employment contributions paid in respect of her in respect of the period commencing on. the day of her entry into insurance and ending on the day immediately preceding the day in respect of which unemployment benefit is claimed is not less than the number of special rate employment contributions paid in respect of her in respect of the same period, or

(c) where the date of her entry into insurance is an earlier date than the 5th day of July, 1954, or such person is an existing contributor and, in either case, any ordinary rate employment contribution or special rate employment contribution was paid in respect of her in respect of the period commencing on the 5th day of July, 1954, and ending on the 1st day of July, 1956, either--

(i) the number of ordinary rate employment contributions paid in respect of her in respect of that period is not less than the number of special rate employment contributions paid in respect of her in respect of the same period, or

(ii) the number of ordinary rate employment contributions paid in respect of her in respect of the period commencing on the 4th day of July, 1955, and ending on the day immediately preceding the day in respect of which unemployment benefit is claimed is not less than the number of special rate employment contributions paid in respect of her in respect of the same period, or

(d) where the date of her entry into insurance is an earlier date than the 5th day of July, 1954, or such person is an existing contributor and, in either case, no ordinary rate employment contribution or special rate employment contribution was paid in respect of her in respect of the period commencing on the 5th day of July, 1954, and ending on the 1st day of July, 1956, the number of ordinary rate employment contributions paid in respect of her in respect of the period commencing on the 5th day of January, 1953, and ending on the 4th day of July, 1954, and the period commencing on the 2nd day of July, 1956, and ending on the day immediately preceding the day in respect of which unemployment benefit is claimed is not less than the number of special rate employment contributions paid in respect of her in respect of the same periods, or

(e) where such person is an existing contributor and no ordinary rate employment contribution or special rate employment contribution was paid in respect of her in respect of the period commencing on the 5th day of January, 1953, and ending on the 1st day of July, 1956, she was throughout that period incapable of work or unemployed, any day in respect of which maternity allowance was payable being treated as a day of incapacity for work.

4. Article 3 of these Regulations shall not apply where the day in the period commencing on the 3rd day of December, 1956, and ending on the 1st day of December, 1957, in respect of which unemployment benefit is claimed forms part of a period of interruption of employment which includes a day prior to the 3rd day of December, 1956, in respect of which unemployment benefit was claimed and in respect of which the relevant contribution conditions for unemployment benefit, or, in the case of an existing contributor, such of those conditions as were applicable, and any additional condition then in force by virtue of regulations made under the Principal Act, were satisfied.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 29th day of November, 1956.

BRENDAN CORISH,

Minister for Social Welfare.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

A reduced rate of contribution under the Social Welfare Acts is payable in respect of women employed as outworkers or in domestic service or agriculture. These special rate contributions do not provide for insurance against unemployment.

To deal with the cases of women in respect of whom some ordinary rate and some special rate contributions have been paid, a Regulation is made in respect of each benefit year providing that in such cases not less than half the contributions paid in a selected period shall have been ordinary rate contributions. The periods selected are as near the date of claim as practicable. The relevant periods in respect of the 1956 57 benefit year, which commences on the 3rd December, 1956, are shown in Article 3 of these Regulations.