Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 115: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of people who are being refused unemployment assistance/benefit on the grounds that they are not genuinely seeking work — despite producing letters from employers to the contrary — on a county basis, per month, for each of the past 12 months; the reason these letters are not accepted as proof that they are genuinely seeking work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10926/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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A person must satisfy the condition of being available for and genuinely seeking work to be entitled to unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance. Details of customers disallowed on unemployment benefit and unemployment assistance in the 12-month period to February 2006 are set out in a table that follows.

Only those customers whose claim was disallowed for the specific reason of not being genuinely seeking work are included in the table and letters from employers would have been provided in the majority of these cases. It should be borne in mind that there are many other reasons why a deciding officer may disallow a claim. The production of letters from employers is only one of a number of factors that will be taken into account by a deciding officer when considering whether a person is genuinely seeking work. The onus is on the claimant to show that he or she satisfies each of these conditions on an ongoing basis.

One of the principal reasons why employers' letter may not be accepted as evidence that a person is genuinely seeking work is that the letters will have been secured after the date the customer was requested to produce such letters or where such letters are obtained from companies known not to have vacancies. This would particularly apply to customers unable to produce evidence of having looked for work over a long period.

All measures taken by a customer to secure employment will be taken into account provided they offer a reasonable chance of getting employment. The steps expected to be taken to find work will vary from person to person and from one period to another. In determining what are reasonable steps, the deciding officer considers the nature and conditions of the employment sought and the individual circumstances of the persons concerned, including their level of skills and/or qualifications for the employment in question having regard to the labour market opportunities and seasonal factors.

Any person who fails to satisfy the deciding officer that he or she is genuinely seeking work is not entitled to an unemployment payment. Where a person is dissatisfied with a decision made by a deciding officer he or she may appeal this decision to the social welfare appeals office.