S.I. No. 200/1959:

SOCIAL WELFARE (UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT) (ADDITIONAL CONDITION) REGULATIONS, 1959.

SOCIAL WELFARE (UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT) (ADDITIONAL CONDITION) REGULATIONS, 1959.

I, SEÁN MACENTEE, 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. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Unemployment Benefit) (Additional Condition) Regulations, 1959.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 7th day of December, 1959.

2. (1) In these Regulations--

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

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

" contribution year " has the same meaning as in the Social Welfare (General Benefit) Regulations, 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 and 1959.

(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 any benefit year 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 such benefit year 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 last complete contribution year preceding such benefit year is not less than twenty-six, or

(b) where the date of her entry into insurance is a date within or subsequent to the two contribution years immediately preceding such benefit year, 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 a date prior to the two contribution years immediately preceding such benefit year 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 those two years, either--

(i) the number of ordinary rate employment contributions paid in respect of her in respect of those two years is not less than the number of special rate employment contributions paid in respect of her in respect of those two years, or

(ii) the number of ordinary rate employment contributions paid in respect of her in respect of the period commencing on the first day of the last complete contribution year preceding such benefit year 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 a date prior to the two contribution years immediately preceding such benefit year 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 those two years, the number of ordinary rate employment contributions paid in respect of her in respect of the period commencing on the first day of the last complete contribution year prior to those two years in respect of which employment contributions were paid 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

(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 last day of the last complete contribution year preceding such benefit year, 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 respect of which unemployment benefit is claimed in any benefit year forms part of a period of interruption of employment which includes a day prior to such benefit year 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 (including these Regulations), were satisfied.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 26th day of November, 1959.

SEÁN MACENTEE,

Minister for Social Welfare.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

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

These regulations are concerned with the position in relation to unemployment benefit of women in respect of whom some ordinary rate and some special rate contributions have been paid. The Regulations require that, in such cases, not less than half the contributions paid in any one of a number of specified periods, selected as near as practicable to the date of claim, shall have been ordinary rate contributions, i.e. contributions providing for insurance against unemployment. The Regulations, which come into operation on the 7th December, 1959, replace the Social Welfare (Unemployment Benefit) (Additional Condition) Regulations, 1958, ( S.I. No. 235 of 1958 ), which cease to operate as from that date.