Committee Reports > List of Committees > Seanad > 1963 > Select Committee on Statutory Instruments (Appointed 21st March, 1962) > Report No. 01 (1963) - Statutory Instruments [11]

APPENDIX III.

Unemployment Assistance (Qualification Certificate) (Amendment) Regulations, 1962 (S.I. No. 137 of 1962).

An Rúnaí,

An Roinn Leasa Shóisialaigh.

I am directed by the Select Committee on Statutory Instruments to state that it has been examining the Unemployment Assistance (Qualification Certificate Regulations) Amendment Order, 1962 [S.I. No. 137 of 1962].

It appears to the Select Committee that the effect of clauses 5 and 6 of the Order is to permit the Minister to authorise administratively changes in the forms statutorily prescribed by the instrument. The Committee wishes to be furnished with a memorandum explaining the need for these provisions.

Cléireach an Roghchoiste.

25 Deireadh Fómhair, 1962.

Cléireach an Roghchoiste.

I am directed by the Minister for Social Welfare to refer to your minute of 25th October, 1962, regarding Regulations 5 and 6 of the Unemployment Assistance (Qualification Certificate Regulations) (Amendment) Order, 1962 (S.I. No. 137 of 1962) and to attach as requested a memorandum explanatory of the position in regard to these Regulations.

Explanatory Memorandum

Regulations 5 and 6 of the Unemployment Assistance (Qualification Certificate Regulations) (Amendment) Order, 1962 (S.I. No. 137 of 1962).

1. The Unemployment Assistance Act, 1933, established the scheme of unemployment assistance. Section 10 (1) of the Act provided that “any person may, subject to the provisions of this section, apply in the prescribed manner for a qualification certificate”. Section 10 (4) of the Act provided that “every qualification certificate shall be in the prescribed form ….” Section 7 (1) of the Act empowered the Minister by order to make regulations prescribing any matter or thing which is referred to in the Act as prescribed or to be prescribed.

2. In accordance with the foregoing provisions, the Unemployment Assistance (Qualification Certificate Regulations) Order, 1934 (S.R. & O. No. 33 of 1934) made the original prescriptions of the manner of application for a qualification certificate and the form of the qualification certificate itself. The prescribed manner of application required the completion of a form of application.

3. These prescriptions were altered from time to time by amending Orders to keep them in conformity with the requirements of successive changes in legislation. Prior to 1962 the form of application had been altered three times—by S.R. and O.s No. 574 of 1935 and 229 of 1938, and by S.I. No. 3 of 1953—and the form of qualification certificate four times—by S.R. and O. No. 194 of 1938 and S.I.s Nos. 167 of 1952, 3 of 1953 and 161 of 1961.

4. Section 5 (1) of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1962, replaced (as from 1st August, 1962) the previously obtaining fixed yearly means limit for entitlement to a qualification certificate under the Unemployment Assistance Acts by a higher limit which varies with the number of the applicant’s child dependants. This necessitated consequential changes in the two forms so that

(a) the form of application for a qualification certificate would provide for the furnishing by the applicant of particulars of dependent children (if any), and

(b) the form of the qualification certificate itself would embody the revised statutory conditions to be fulfilled by the holder. (Since the inception of the scheme of unemployment assistance, the prescribed form of a qualification certificate has included a statement of the current statutory conditions).

5. It was decided to use the opportunity afforded by the making of a new amending Order to lessen the rigidity of the 1934 Regulations so that any future amendments of the forms which might be dictated by changes in legislation could be made without re-prescribing the forms by means of further amending Orders. The prescribed forms are in effect part of the administrative machinery for implementing the basic legislation and it was considered to be unnecessary to add to the corpus of statutory instruments each time some relevant detail of the legislation was amended by the Oireachtas. It was also thought that administrative needs, as distinct from legislation, might at some stage render some minor amendment of the forms desirable and here also it was felt that any such changes would hardly justify additions to the corpus of statutory instrument law (it may be stated that no amendment of this kind was in mind at the time, or has come to mind since).

6. Regulations 5 and 6 of the 1962 Order were framed in the light of these considerations and of precedent and it is therefore correct to say that their effect is to permit the Minister to authorise administratively changes in the forms statutorily prescribed by the instrument.

7. Following are examples of some long-standing precedents for the administrative discretion written into the 1934 Order by Regulations 5 and 6 of the 1962 Order:

Old Age Pension forms

Old Age Pensions Consolidated Regulations 1922 (S.R. & O., No. 2001 of 1921), Regulation 5:

5. The forms set out in the First Schedule to these Regulations, or forms to the like effect, shall be used in all cases to which those forms are applicable.

Application for pension under the Widows’ and Orphans’ Pensions Act, 1935

Widows’ and Orphans’ Pensions (Claims and Payment Regulations) Order, 1935 (S.R. & O., No. 678 of 1935), Extract from Article 3:

3. (1) Every person who desires to make a claim for a pension shall fill up a form of application ................................................................................

(2) (a) The application shall be in the appropriate form set out in the Schedule to these Regulations, or in such other form substantially to the like effect as the Minister may determine: .........................................................................................................

8. In the explanatory note appended to the 1962 Order as published, attention was specially directed to the amendments effected by Regulations 5 and 6, the sole object of which was more flexible and more efficient administration.

9. The 1962 Order was made in accordance with a draft prepared by the Department of the Attorney General. The request of the Select Committee has been brought to the notice of the Attorney General, who has indicated that he has no objection to the contents of this memorandum.