Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1966

Amendment of section 35 of Act of 1952.

8.—Section 35 of the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the insertion after subsection (3) of the following subsections:

“(4) In ascertaining, for the purposes of this section, the amount of benefit lost by an employed contributor or other person by reason of a failure or neglect referred to in subsection (1) of this section, account shall not be taken of any social assistance paid to such contributor or other person during a period when he was losing benefit by reason of the failure or neglect aforesaid.

(5) The amount of social assistance paid to an employed contributor or other person during a period when he was losing benefit by reason of a failure or neglect referred to in subsection (1) of this section may be recovered by the Minister—

(a) in case the full amount of the benefit which was lost has been recovered by such contributor or other person, from such contributor or other person—

(i) by deduction from any benefit or social assistance to which such contributor or other person may be or become entitled, or

(ii) as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction, or

(b) in any other case, from the employer guilty of the failure or neglect as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction,

and, if the amount of the social assistance is recovered by the Minister from the employer, the sum recoverable by such contributor or other person from the employer under this section shall be reduced by the amount of such social assistance.

(6) Any sums recovered by the Minister under subsection (5) of this section shall be paid into the Exchequer.

(7) In this section ‘social assistance’ means a pension under the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 to 1966, unemployment assistance under the Unemployment Assistance Acts, 1933 to 1966, or a pension under the Widows' and Orphans' Pensions Acts, 1935 to 1966.”