S.I. No. 156/1956:

SOCIAL WELFARE (MODIFICATION OF CONTRIBUTION CONDITIONS FOR BENEFIT) REGULATIONS, 1956.

SOCIAL WELFARE (MODIFICATION OF CONTRIBUTION CONDITIONS FOR BENEFIT) REGULATIONS, 1956.

I, BRENDAN CORISH, Minister for Social Welfare, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sections 3 and 14 of the Social Welfare Act, 1952 (No. 11 of 1952), hereby make the following regulations as respects which--

(a) pursuant to the said section 3, a draft thereof has been sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, and

(b) pursuant to the said section 14, a draft thereof has been laid before each House of the Oireachtas and a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by each such House :

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Modification of Contribution Conditions for Benefit) Regulations, 1956.

2. These Regulations shall come into operation on the 5th day of July, 1956.

3. The contribution conditions set out in the Fourth Schedule to the Social Welfare Act, 1952 (No. 11 of 1952), are hereby modified as follows :

(1) in subparagraph (b) of paragraph 1, " forty-eight " shall be substituted for " fifty " ;

(2) the following paragraph shall be inserted after paragraph 1 :

" 1A. (1) Where a person under 65 years of age has been entitled to payment of unemployment benefit in respect of any day which is in, or is after, the benefit year which includes the 5th day of July, 1956, or would but for the provisions of subsection (2) of section 15 or subsection (2) or subsection (4) of section 17 of this Act have been so entitled, then, as respects unemployment benefit, the benefit year which includes the first such day in every period of interruption of employment, which is, or is deemed to be, a separate period of interruption of employment, shall, for the purpose of the condition contained in subparagraph (b) of the immediately preceding paragraph, be regarded as continuing so long as the period of interruption of employment continues.

(2) Where a person under 65 years of age--

(a) has, in respect of any day which is the 6th day of June, 1955, or is after the 6th day of June, 1955, and before the 5th day of July, 1956, been entitled to payment of unemployment benefit, or would but for the provisions of subsection (2) of section 15 or subsection (2) or subsection (4) of section 17 of this Act have been so entitled, and

(b) the said day forms part of a period of interruption of employment with a day which is or is after the 5th day of July, 1956, and in respect of which unemployment benefit is claimed,

then, as respects unemployment benefit, subparagraph (b) of the immediately preceding paragraph, if that subparagraph did not apply to that person immediately before the 5th day of July, 1956, shall not apply to him so long as the period of intreruption of employment continues." ;

(3) in subparagraph (b) of paragraph 2, " forty-eight " shall be substituted for " fifty ".

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

BRENDAN CORISH,

Minister for Social Welfare.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

A contribution condition for disability or unemployment benefit under the Social Welfare Act, 1952 , requires at least 50 paid or credited employment contributions in respect of the contribution year preceding the benefit year that includes the day for which benefit is claimed. Under these Regulations the number of contributions will as from and including the 5th July, 1956, be reduced from 50 to 48. A similar reduction will apply to the analogous contribution condition for receipt of marriage benefit by insured women who marry.

The Regulations also provide for a modified application, in the case of certain claimants for unemployment benefit under 65 years of age, of the contribution condition already mentioned. The broad effect of the modification is that while a period of interruption of employment continues the rate of unemployment benefit initially applicable will not be affected by the intervention of a new benefit year.