Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 190: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the basis on which jobseeker's allowance has been refused in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Meath; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14008/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The person concerned submitted an application for Jobseeker's Allowance on 12 February 2008. One of the conditions for receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance is that the person must be habitually resident in this State. The person concerned was found not to be habitually resident in the State at that time and, accordingly, her application was disallowed and she was notified of this decision on 8 May 2008.

She appealed this decision and the Appeals Officer decided that she was not habitually resident in the State for social welfare purposes and disallowed the appeal. The reasons for the Appeals Officer's decision were that she had lived most of her life outside the State, she did not have an established pattern of employment within the State, her husband's status within the State remained uncertain and the Appeals Officer did not consider that she had significant durable ties with Ireland to suggest her centre of interest was within the State. The Social Welfare Appeals Office is independently responsible for determining appeals against decisions on social welfare entitlements.