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APPENDIX V.Social Welfare (Unemployment Benefit) (Additional Condition) Regulations, 1958 (S.I. No. 233 of 1958).An Rúnaí, An Roinn Leasa Shóisialaigh. I am directed by the Select Committee on Statutory Instruments to refer to the provision in Article 2 (2) of the Social Welfare (Unemployment Benefit) (Additional Condition) Regulations, 1958 [S.I. 233 of 1958] which reads as follows:— “(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.” As the purport of this provision is not clear to the Committee it has directed me to ask you to furnish a memorandum in explanation of it. In particular, the Committee would like to be informed if the provision in question is intended to qualify any of the definitions contained in Article 2 (1) and if not, whether its sole purpose is to qualify the reference to “regulations made under the Principal Act” in Article 4. The Committee would also welcome the views of your Department as to whether it would be possible, in the interests of clarity, to avoid inserting provisions of the type under review in regulations of this kind and, as an alternative, to include in such references to statutes and previous regulations as may be necessary, a mention of the subsequent amendments of these statutes and regulations which affect the position. M. G. KILROY, Cléireach an Rogha-Choiste. 21 Feabhra, 1959. Cléireach an Rogha-Choiste um Ionstraimí Reachtúla, Seanad Éireann. I am directed by the Minister for Social Welfare to refer to your minute of the 21st February last regarding paragraph (2) of Article 2 of the Social Welfare (Unemployment Benefit) (Additional Condition) Regulations, 1958 (S.I. No. 233 of 1958), and to attach, as requested, a memorandum explanatory of the position in regard to that paragraph. While the Attorney-General, to whom it was referred, agrees generally with this memorandum, he has expressed the opinion that the relevant paragraph appeared sufficiently clear not to require any special clarification. I am to add that S.I. No. 233 of 1958 is in accordance with the draft received from the Department of the Attorney General. P. J. KEADY, 15 Bealtaine, 1959. Article 2 (2) of the Social Welfare (Unemployment Benefit) (Additional Condition) Regulations, 1958 (S.I. No. 233 of 1958). Explanatory Memorandum. 1. Article 2 (2) of the Social Welfare (Unemployment Benefit) (Additional Condition) Regulations, 1958 (S.I. No. 233 of 1958), is as follows:— “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.” In Article 2 (1) of the Regulations, “the Principal Act” is defined as meaning the Social Welfare Act, 1952, and “the Act of 1956” is defined as meaning the Social Welfare (Amendment) Act, 1956. 2. In addition to the two enactments mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the following regulations are specifically referred to in Article 2 (1), which is composed solely of definitions:— Social Welfare (Modifications of Insurance) Regulations, 1953 (S.I. No. 10 of 1953), Social Welfare (Modifications of Insurance) Regulations, 1956 (S.I. No. 236 of 1956), Social Welfare (Unemployment Benefit and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Transitional) Regulations, 1953 (S.I. No. 2 of 1953), Social Welfare (Disability, Unemployment and Marriage Benefit) Regulations, 1953 (S.I. No. 7 of 1953), and Social Welfare (General Benefit) Regulations, 1953 (S.I. No. 16 of 1953). 3. The Social Welfare Act, 1952, came into full operation on the 5th January, 1953. The rates of employment contributions payable under the Act in respect of various types of employment were set out in the Second Schedule to the Act. 4. Section 12 of the 1952 Act gives power to modify, by regulations, the provisions of the Act in their application to persons engaged in certain employments. By virtue of this power, the Social Welfare (Modifications of Insurance) Regulations, 1953 (S.I. No. 10 of 1953) were made. Under the regulations, which came into operation on the 5th January, 1953, the Second Schedule to the 1952 Act was amended by the addition to it of the rates of employment contributions payable in respect of certain specified employments. The position from and including 5th January, 1953, was, therefore, that the various rates at which employment contributions were payable were set out in the Second Schedule to the 1952 Act, as modified by the 1953 Modifications of Insurance Regulations. This position continued unaltered up to and including the 2nd September, 1956. 5. The Social Welfare (Amendment) Act, 1956, which became law on the 11th July, 1956, provided, in subsection (1) to (5) of Section 4, for alteration, as from and including the 3rd September, 1956, of the rates of employment contributions set out in the Second Schedule to the 1952 Act, as that Schedule was originally enacted. 6. The alteration in rates of employment contributions provided for in the 1956 Amendment Act necessitated adjustment of the rates of employment contributions which, under the 1953 Modifications of Insurance Regulations, had been added to the Second Schedule to the 1952 Act. 7. To provide for the necessary adjustment of the rates added in 1953, the 1953 Modifications of Insurance Regulations were replaced, as from and including the 3rd September, 1956, by the Social Welfare (Modifications of Insurance) Regulations, 1956. Section 3 of the 1956 Act provided for amendment of Section 12 of the 1952 Act, under which the 1953 Modifications of Insurance Regulations had been made. The 1956 Modifications of Insurance Regulations were made under Section 12 of the 1952 Act, as amended by the 1956 Act. These Regulations amended the Second Schedule to the 1952 Act, as amended by the 1956 Act, by the addition to it (in lieu of the 1953 addition) of the new rates of employment contributions payable in respect of certain specified employments. The position on the 3rd September, 1956, was, therefore, that the various rates at which employment contributions were payable in respect of employment on or after that date were set out in the Second Schedule to the 1952 Act, as amended by the 1956 Act and as modified by the 1956 Modifications of Insurance Regulations. That position was still unaltered when the Social Welfare (Unemployment Benefit) (Additional Condition) Regulations, 1958 (S.I. No. 233 of 1958), were made on the 26th November, 1958. 8. Regulation 4 of S.I. No. 2 of 1953, referred to in the definition of “existing contributor”, has not at any time been altered. 9. Article 9 of S.I. No. 7 of 1953, referred to in the definition of “period of interruption of employment”, has not at any time been altered. 10. The meaning assigned to “contribution year” in S.I. No. 16 of 1953, referred to in the definition of “contribution year”, has not since been altered. 11. In the definitions in Article 2 (1) of S.I. No. 233 of 1958, all relevant amendments, extensions and/or modifications effected prior to the making of the Instrument are mentioned. The definitions, being fully descriptive of the position as it then stood, did not, therefore, at that point rely for qualification on Article 2 (2) but were independent of that sub-Article. If, however, subsequent to the making of S.I. No. 233 of 1958, any of the enactments or regulations specifically referred to in the definitions in Article 2 (1) were amended or extended or modified, the definition(s) affected would rely for qualification on the provisions of Article 2 (2). Otherwise, that is, in the absence of those provisions, it would be necessary formally to amend the Statutory Instrument for the sole purpose of bringing up to date the references in the definitions even though the amendment or extension or modification did not affect the provisions of the regulations embodied in the Statutory Instrument. For example, if during the period of application of Article 3 of S.I. No. 233 of 1958, the rates of employment contributions were altered, formal amendment of the definitions of “ordinary rate employment contributions” and “special rate employment contributions” would, in the absence of Article 2 (2), be necessary so as to include reference to the new enactment and regulations and thus cover contributions paid at the new rates. The change in rates would not, however, affect the regulations in Articles 3 and 4 of the Instrument. 12. In connection with the preceding paragraph, it is mentioned that subsequent to the making of S.I. No. 233 of 1958, the 1956 Modifications of Insurance Regulations were amended, with effect from and including the 26th January, 1959, by the Social Welfare (Modifications of Insurance) (Amendment) Regulations, 1959 (S.I. No. 9 of 1959). The amendment related to certain male employed contributors and did not, therefore, affect S.I. No. 233 of 1958. 13. Article 4 of S.I. No. 233 of 1958 has the effect of exempting, in certain circumstances, certain claimants for unemployment benefit from the application of the additional condition set out in Article 3 of the Instrument and applicable where unemployment benefit is claimed in the period from the 1st December, 1958, to the 6th December, 1959, which coincides with the 1958/59 Women’s Benefit Year. The circumstances in which exemption applies are described in Article 4. Certain conditions must have been satisfied in respect of a day prior to the 1958/59 Women’s Benefit Year. The only condition material to the present purpose is that which requires that the claimant for unemployment benefit, in respect of the relevant day prior to the 1958/59 Women’s Benefit Year, satisfied any additional condition then in force by virtue of regulations made under the Social Welfare Act, 1952. 14. Since the 5th January, 1953, there are two classes of employed contributors, namely, those transferred to the new scheme from the former separate insurance schemes and defined, in Article 4 of S.I. No. 2 of 1953, as existing contributors, and those who entered insurance on or after the 5th January, 1953 (referred to, for convenience, as new entrants). 15. Under Section 17 (5) of the Social Welfare Act, 1952, an additional condition for receipt of unemployment benefit may, by regulations, be imposed in the case of any class of persons. By virtue of this power, an additional condition for receipt of unemployment benefit by female claimants, has been prescribed by regulations in respect of every Women’s Benefit Year from and including the 1953/54 Benefit Year which began on the 7th December, 1953. Particulars of the Statutory Instruments are as follows:— 1953/54 Benefit Year: Existing Contributors—Article 7 of S.I. No. 2 of 1953 New Entrants—S.I. No. 375 of 1953. 1954/55 Benefit Year: Existing Contributors—Article 8 of S.I. No. 2 of 1953 New Entrants—S.I. No. 264 of 1954. 1955/56 Benefit Year: Existing Contributors—Article 9 of S.I. No. 2 of 1953 New Entrants—S.I. No. 241 of 1955. 1956/57 Benefit Year: All female claimants—S.I. No. 291 of 1956. 1957/58 Benefit Year: All female claimants—S.I. No. 239 of 1957. An additional condition for receipt of unemployment benefit by female claimants, whether existing contributors or new entrants, was not prescribed in respect of the period from the 5th January, 1953, to the 6th December, 1953, i.e., the day preceding the 1953/54 Women’s Benefit Year. 16. The reference in Article 4 of S.I. No. 233 of 1958 to satisfaction in respect of a day prior to the 1958/59 Women’s Benefit Year, of any additional condition then in force by virtue of regulations made under the 1952 Act is a reference to the Additional Condition Regulations, if any, in force on the relevant day, the actual date of that day in the individual case determining which, if any, of the earlier regulations mentioned in paragraph 15 above were in force. In all cases the period to which those Regulations applied has expired and no question of amending the Regulations could arise subsequent to the 30th November, 1958, that is, the day before the present (1958/1959) Women’s Benefit Year, for which provision is made in Article 3 of S.I. No. 233 of 1958, began. The reference in Article 4 of S.I. No. 233 of 1958 to regulations made under the Principal Act, being a reference to Additional Condition Regulations applicable in past periods, was not, therefore, at the date of the making of the Statutory Instrument, qualified by Article 2 (2) nor could it subsequently be qualified by that sub-Article since the question of amending the earlier Regulations could not arise. 17. The inclusion in a Statutory Instrument of provisions analogous to those of Article 2 (2) of S.I. No. 233 of 1958 obviates the need for amending the Instrument for the sole purpose of bringing references up to date, should any of the enactments and/or regulations to which reference is made, be amended or extended or modified subsequent to the making of the Instrument, in such manner as not to affect directly the regulations embodied in the Instrument. |
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