Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 321: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will change the rule whereby when an employee is out sick or temporarily laid off due to shortage of work, they do not receive any payment for the first three days of the claim, as this causes hardship; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35166/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Waiting days have been a feature of the illness benefit and jobseeker's payment schemes since their inception and are a feature of similar social security schemes in many countries. The application of a three-day waiting period avoids the disproportionately high administrative costs involved in processing large numbers of claims of a very short duration.

However, the waiting day rule is not applied in all cases and exceptions are made in certain situations. For example, where a person is subject to intermittent spells of unemployment it would clearly be unreasonable to impose the three waiting days for each such jobseeker's benefit claim. In the case of illness benefit and jobseeker's benefit, spells of unemployment are aggregated so that the waiting period is confined to the first three days of the aggregate period of interruption of employment, subject to falling within the rules governing linking.

These rules provide that any two periods of unemployment, not separated by more than 26 weeks, are treated as one such period and payment may be made from the first day of the later claim. The same principle applies in the case of jobseeker's allowance but the linking period is 52 weeks instead of 26 weeks. In addition, linking rules apply in a variety of ways across schemes, for example, where a person claims illness benefit immediately following an unemployment benefit claim.

I would also emphasise that people who are in need of financial support are not left without such support during waiting days. A person who has no other income is entitled to claim supplementary welfare allowance in respect of the days in question.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 322: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if supplementary welfare payment will be offered to a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35301/07]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Health Service Executive (HSE) has advised that it has refused a payment of rent supplement in this case, in December 2006, on the grounds that the local housing authority has not certified that the person concerned has a genuine housing need. This decision was not appealed. It is open to the person concerned to lodge a new application for rent supplement with their local community welfare officer.