PART III

Contribution Conditions for Short-Term Benefits

17. —(1) Section 19 (1) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for paragraph (b) of the following paragraph:

“(b) that the claimant has qualifying contributions or credited contributions in respect of not less than 39 contribution weeks in the last complete contribution year before the beginning of the benefit year which includes the day for which the benefit is claimed.”.

(2) Section 30 (1) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution for paragraph (b) of the following paragraph:

“(b) that the claimant has qualifying contributions or credited contributions in respect of not less than 39 contribution weeks in the last complete contribution year before the beginning of the benefit year which includes the day for which the benefit is claimed.”.

(3) This section shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders and different days may be so appointed for different provisions of this section.

18. —(1) Section 19 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution for subsection (1) (as amended by section 8 of the Act of 1987) of the following subsection:

“(1) The contribution conditions for disability benefit are—

(a) that the claimant has qualifying contributions in respect of not less than 39 contribution weeks in the period between his entry into insurance and the day for which the benefit is claimed, and

(b) that the claimant has qualifying contributions or credited contributions in respect of not less than 39 contribution weeks in the last complete contribution year before the beginning of the benefit year which includes the day for which the benefit is claimed, and

(c) that the claimant has prescribed reckonable weekly earnings in excess of a prescribed amount in a prescribed period.”, and

(b) by the substitution for subsections (4) and (5) of the following subsections:

“(4) Subject to subsection (5), regulations may provide for entitling to disability benefit persons who would be entitled thereto but for the fact that the condition set out in subsection (1) (c) is not satisfied.

(5) Regulations for the purposes of subsection (4) shall provide that benefit payable by virtue thereof shall be payable at a rate less than that specified in the Second Schedule, and the rate specified by the regulations may vary with the extent to which the condition set out in subsection (1) (c) is satisfied.”.

(2) This section shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders and different days may be so appointed for different provisions of this section.

19. —(1) Section 30 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution for subsection (1) (as amended by section 8 of the Act of 1987) of the following subsection:

“(1) The contribution conditions for unemployment benefit are—

(a) that the claimant has qualifying contributions in respect of not less than 39 contribution weeks in the period between his entry into insurance and the day for which the benefit is claimed, and

(b) that the claimant has qualifying contributions or credited contributions in respect of not less than 39 contribution weeks in the last complete contribution year before the beginning of the benefit year which includes the day for which the benefit is claimed, and

(c) that the claimant has prescribed reckonable weekly earnings in excess of a prescribed amount in a prescribed period.”, and

(b) by the substitution for subsections (4) and (5) of the following subsections:

“(4) Subject to subsection (5), regulations may provide for entitling to unemployment benefit persons who would be entitled thereto but for the fact that the condition set out in subsection (1) (c) is not satisfied.

(5) Regulations for the purposes of subsection (4) shall provide that benefit payable by virtue thereof shall be payable at a rate less than that specified in the Second Schedule, and the rate specified by the regulations may vary with the extent to which the condition set out in subsection (1) (c) is satisfied.”.

(2) This section shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders and different days may be so appointed for different provisions of this section.

20. —(1) Section 89 of the Principal Act is hereby amended—

(a) by the substitution for subsection (1) (as amended by section 9 of the No. 2 Act of 1987) of the following subsection:

“(1) The contribution conditions for invalidity pension are—

(a) that before the relevant date the claimant has qualifying contributions in respect of not less than 260 contribution weeks since his entry into insurance, and

(b) that before the relevant date the claimant has qualifying contributions or credited contributions in respect of not less than 48 contribution weeks in the last complete contribution year before that date, and

(c) that the claimant has prescribed reckonable weekly earnings in excess of a prescribed amount in a prescribed period.”, and

(b) by the insertion after subsection (4) of the following subsections:

“(5) Subject to subsection (6), regulations may provide for entitling to invalidity pension persons who would be entitled thereto but for the fact that the condition set out in subsection (1) (c) is not satisfied.

(6) Regulations for the purposes of subsection (5) shall provide that pension payable by virtue thereof shall be payable at a rate less than that specified in the Second Schedule, and the rate specified by the regulations may vary with the extent to which the condition set out in subsection (1) (c) is satisfied.”.

(2) This section shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders and different days may be so appointed for different provisions of this section.

21. —(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the substitution for subsection (2) (inserted by section 9 of the Social Welfare (Amendment) Act, 1981 ) of section 24 of the following subsection:

“(2) Subject to the following provisions of this section, the period for which maternity allowance is payable shall be the period of maternity leave to which a woman is entitled by virtue of section 8 of the Maternity Protection of Employees Act, 1981 (including any extension of that period by virtue of section 12 of that Act).”,

(b) the substitution for subsection (5) (inserted by section 9 of the Social Welfare (Amendment) Act, 1981 ) of section 24 of the following subsection:

“(5) For the purposes of subsection (2), where the employment ceases (whether due to the death of the employer or otherwise) during the period of maternity leave, the woman shall continue to be treated as if the event which caused the cesser of employment had not occurred.”,

(c) the substitution in subsection (1) (inserted by section 10 of the No. 2 Act of 1987) of section 25 for “section 24 (2) (a)” of “section 24 (2)”,

(d) the deletion of subsection (1A) (inserted by section 10 of the No. 2 Act of 1987) of section 25,

(e) the substitution for section 26 of the following section:

“Rate of allowance.

26.—(1) Subject to this Act, the weekly rate of maternity allowance shall be an amount equal to—

(a) 70 per cent. of the reckonable weekly earnings of the woman to whom the allowance is payable in the income tax year prescribed for the purposes of this section, or

(b) 70 per cent. of such amount as may be prescribed as the average reckonable weekly earnings of women in that year,

whichever is the greater.

(2) The percentage specified in subsection (1) may be varied by regulations having regard to such matters as—

(a) movements in the annual average earnings of women, and

(b) the imposition or variation of statutory deductions from or charges on earnings.

(3) In this section ‘reckonable weekly earnings’ means the average amount of reckonable earnings received in a week up to such limit as stands prescribed for the purpose of section 73.”,

(f) the deletion of section 26A (inserted by section 5 of the No. 2 Act of 1985) and section 26B (inserted by section 11 of the Act of 1986).

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, a woman who becomes entitled to maternity allowance payable by virtue of section 24 (2) (b) of the Principal Act before the commencement of that subsection, shall continue to be entitled to such allowance until the end of that period of entitlement to maternity allowance.

(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders and different days may be so appointed for different provisions of that subsection.

22. —(1) The Principal Act is hereby amended by—

(a) the deletion in paragraph (a) of section 7 (1) of “paragraph 7 of Part I of the First Schedule”,

(b) the deletion of paragraph (c) of section 38 (3), and

(c) the deletion of paragraph 7 of Part I of the First Schedule.

(2) Part II of the First Schedule to the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion of paragraph 10.

(3) This section shall come into operation on the 6th day of April, 1991.