”It is not paid to people who go on holidays abroad…”
104 Pandemic Unemployment Payments have been cut following airport checks, the Department of Social Protection has confirmed.
The payments, as well as 44 other social welfare payments, including jobseekers and means assessed payments, have also been shut down since the beginning of this month.
The Department of Social Welfare said that the government’s advice remains that ”it is safer to stay at home this summer.”
”[The payment] is not paid to people who go on holidays abroad or when they are going through their 14 day quarantine period,” it said.
Speaking on #rtetwip Tánaiste @LeoVaradkar says "the Department of Social Protection gets information from the airports and if somebody is not genuinely seeking work or is not living in the country anymore their welfare payments can be stopped". #rtenews pic.twitter.com/TgkVo6kdSx
— The Week in Politics (@rtetwip) July 26, 2020
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar told RTÉ’s The Week in Politics that the department stopped the payments of those who are “not genuinely seeking work”.
“The Department of Social Protection gets information from the airports,” he said, “and if somebody is not genuinely seeking work or is not living in the country anymore their welfare payments can be stopped.”
When asked why this is happening when regular social welfare payments are not cut when a person goes on holidays, Varadkar said that, in those cases, two weeks holidays is usually permitted but that payments could be cut thereafter.
The Department of Social Protection said that exceptions can be made if a person has to travel abroad for urgent reasons.
It added that regular checks will be carried out on passengers travelling through airports.
Over half a million people are currently availing of the €350 Pandemic Unemployment Payment in Ireland.
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