asked the Minister for Social Welfare the criteria that are adopted to assess the eligibility of applicants for unemployment benefit; if the same criteria apply to persons who are totally unemployed and persons who have only succeeded in obtaining weekend work; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

The criteria for entitlement to unemployment benefit, which apply to all applicants including week-end workers, are to be found in the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1977, and are in general that benefit is payable to a claimant in respect of days of unemployment if on those days he is under pensionable age, is capable of work and available for work, satisfies the relevant contribution conditions and is free from certain statutory disqualifications. The disqualifications apply to a range of circumstances among which are situations where persons are involved in trade disputes, persons leave their employment voluntarily without just cause or refuse suitable offers of employment or have not taken advantage of any reasonable opportunity of obtaining suitable employment. Each case is decided on its merits by a deciding officer of my Department in the light of the particular circumstances.

Weekend workers claiming benefit in respect of the days on which they are not working have to satisfy the same conditions as other claimants. In their cases, however, particular attention would naturally be paid to the question of their availability for work on the days involved and the decision on this aspect would be given in the light of a number of relevant circumstances such as their efforts to seek full-time employment and whether they would genuinely avail of employment on the days in question if it were offered to them.