S.I. No. 189/1990:

SOCIAL WELFARE (FAMILY INCOME SUPPLEMENT) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1990.

SOCIAL WELFARE (FAMILY INCOME SUPPLEMENT) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1990.

The Minister for Social Welfare, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 3 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1981 (No. 1 of 1981), section 232B of that Act (as amended by the Social Welfare Act, 1988 (No. 7 of 1988)), section 232C of that Act (as amended by the Social Welfare Act, 1990 (No. 5 of 1990)), and by section 232F of that Act (as inserted by the Social Welfare Act, 1984 (No. 5 of 1984)), hereby makes the following Regulations:--

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Family Income Supplement) (Amendment) Regulations, 1990.

(2) These Regulations and the Social Welfare (Family Income Supplement) Regulations, 1984 to 1989, shall be construed as one and may be cited together as the Social Welfare (Family Income Supplement) Regulations, 1984 to 1990.

2. In these Regulations--

"the Principal Act" means the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1981 ;

"the Act of 1984" means the Social Welfare Act, 1984 (No. 5 of 1984);

"the Principal Regulations" means the Social Welfare (Family Income Supplement) Regulations, 1984 ( S.I. No. 278 of 1984 );

"the Regulations of 1989" means the Social Welfare (Family Income Supplement) (Amendment) Regulations, 1989 ( S.I. No. 196 of 1989 ).

3. These Regulations shall come into operation on the 26th day of July, 1990.

4. Article 4 of the Principal Regulations is hereby amended by the insertion after paragraph (g) of the following paragraphs:--

"( h ) payments by a health board in respect of a child who is boarded out;

( i ) in the case of a qualified applicant under a scheme administered by the Minister for the Gaeltacht and known as Scéim na bhFoghlaimeoirí Gaeilge, any income received under that scheme in respect of a person who is temporarily resident with the qualified applicant, together with any other income received in respect of such temporary resident.".

5. The Principal Regulations are hereby amended by the substitution for article 5 (as substituted by article 4 of the Regulations of 1989) of the following article:--

"5. For the purposes of these Regulations a person shall be regarded as being engaged in remunerative full-time employment as an employee where--

( a ) he is engaged in remunerative employment which is expected to continue for a period of a minimum of 6 months and he is so engaged for not less than 20 hours a week, or he together with his spouse are engaged in such employment for an aggregate of not less than 20 hours a week, and

( b ) he is engaged in remunerative employment and he is so engaged for not less than 20 hours a week, or he together with his spouse are engaged in such employment for an aggregate of not less than 20 hours a week, in--

(i) the week in which the claim for supplement is made, or

(ii) either of the two weeks immediately preceeding the week in which the claim for supplement is made, or

(iii) the week immediately following the week in which the claim for supplement is made.".

6. The Principal Regulations are hereby amended by the substitution in subparagraph (i) of paragraph (f) of section 115 (1) of the Principal Act, as set out and modified in the Schedule to the said Regulations, of "3 months" for "6 months".

7. The amounts specified in section 232B of the Principal Act (as inserted by the Act of 1984 and varied by article 5 of the Regulations of 1989) are hereby varied by the substitution of "£118" for "£112" in each place where it occurs and of "£25" for "£24" and an additional amount of £11 is hereby prescribed for each child in addition to the fifth child up to and including the eighth child.

8. The maximum weekly rates of family income supplement specified in subsection (2) of section 232C of the Principal Act (as inserted by the Act of 1984 and varied by article 7 of the Regulations of 1989) are hereby varied by the substitution of "£22" for "£18" in each place where it occurs and of "£10" for "£8" and an additional rate of £5 is hereby prescribed for each child in addition to the fifth child up to and including the eighth child.

9. The prescribed weekly amount for the purposes of subsection (3) of section 232C of the Principal Act shall be £5.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Social Welfare,

this 25th day of July, 1990.

MICHAEL WOODS,

Minister for Social Welfare.

The Minister for Finance hereby consents to the making of the foregoing Regulations.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Finance, this 25th day of July, 1990.

ALBERT REYNOLDS,

Minister for Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations provide for the following improvements in the Family Incomes Supplement Scheme:--

( a ) increases in the income limits for receipt of payment by between £6 and £13 a week depending on family size,

( b ) increases in the maximum payment by between £4 and £12 a week depending on family size,

( c ) the introduction of a minimum payment of £5 per week for everyone who qualifies,

( d ) a reduction from 12 months to 6 months in the length of time for which people must expect to be employed in order to qualify for the supplement, and

( e ) the exemption of payments made by a health board in respect of foster children and payments to persons living in Gaeltacht areas to accomodate students who wish to improve their fluency in Irish from the assessment of means for family income supplement purposes.

The Regulations also provide for bringing the period of disqualification for receipt of family income supplement payments, in the case of persons convicted of fraudulently obtaining family income supplement, into line with the period which applies in the case of other social welfare payments.