Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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197. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if a person (details supplied) in County Roscommon is entitled to backpay from 5 March 2014 to 14 October 2014 on their jobseeker's benefit in view of the fact that they were unaware following voluntary redundancy that they would have an entitlement to jobseeker's benefit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41476/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Under the Social Welfare Consolidation Act an applicant shall be disqualified for payment in respect of any period before the date on which a claim for Jobseeker's Benefit (JB) is made.

Notwithstanding this, a person may be entitled to a payment where the claimant shows "good cause" for not making the claim within the prescribed time, subject to all of the other criteria of the scheme being satisfied. In this case the person in question has not demonstrated good cause and as such there are no grounds for a retrospective payment.