Here is a very good guide on how to sign on for the dole.
Signing on: a step-by-step guide
1 If you lose your job you are entitled to claim either jobseekers benefit or jobseekers allowance from the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
2 You qualify for jobseekers benefit if you have paid 104 PRSI contributions, or “stamps”, since first starting work. Thirty-nine payments must have been paid in the relevant tax year. This benefit is not means-tested. (If you are unsure about your PRSI record, you can contact the Department of Social and Family Affairs at 01-7043000 and ask for the PRSI section.)
3 If you don’t have enough “stamps” you can apply for jobseekers allowance, which is means-tested.
4 You must make an appointment with your local social welfare office to make a claim. To check where your nearest dole office is, go to www.welfare.ie
6 You are required to bring a range of documentation (again go to www.welfare.ie for the complete list), including a P45, P60, proof of identity and residence, and an RP50 form if you have been made redundant. You will also be expected to provide proof that you are making efforts to seek work.
7 At this meeting your claim will be discussed and forms filled in. According to the department, the average processing time in December was two weeks for jobseekers benefit and five weeks for jobseekers allowance. However, in some parts of the country the processing time for the jobseekers allowance is as long as 15 weeks.
8 While waiting for a decision you can apply for a means-tested supplementary welfare allowance payment. Applications should be made to the Community Welfare Office at your local health centre.
9 Once your claim has been authorised you will be obliged to sign on once a month at your dole office, and to collect your money once a week at the post office.
10 For advice, you can speak in confidence to the welfare-to-work section of the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed ( www.inou.ie ) at 01-8560088, Monday to Friday, between 9.30am and 5pm or go to Social Welfare website - Unemployed section.
Taken from Irish Times - Article "Getting to grips with life on the dole"
8 comments:
Hey I'm an American, and I have to say that though I do understand the terrible economic receccion hitting Ireland at the moment...you's are fucking lazy. Espescially the young people. I don't know how many Irish friends I have that are sitting on their asses every day collecting a check once a week...Being encouraged to sit on their asses every day. Make people work for their money. I know the Irish are hard workers...
I seriously think that the way the Irish government are distributing the dole - particularly to young people still living at home is only going to be the ruination of this generation and contribute to increased social problems and antisocial behaviour. Its time for them to be a little creative and come up with schemes to get people back into training/work.
Of the 430,000 people who are "signing on", about 150,000 are still in work (on reduced work weeks and claiming JB - to which they are entitled having paid PRSI into the scheme), or in various schemes which allow them to work and receive a portion of welfare.
Its the remaining 280,000 that are actually unemployed.
At any time there are roughly 30-40000 vacancies, plus there is still a constant stream of 6000+ plus people a month "joining" the live register. However some will be signing off also as they either find work or leave the country.
The problem is that 250,000 jobs have vanished due to various industry collapse. Multinationals, especially smaller ones without economies of scale, are quietly withdrawing en masse.
Seandrew - you have no idea what you are talking about. Workfare programmes were experimented with in Ireland in the 1980s, but the cost of running them was more than it costs to simply pay welfare. This is due to high property costs, insurance, and the requirement to hire supervisors etc.
Michael - young people at home only get about 100 a week - max rate for under 25s. Those young folk are a large proprotion of those emigrating, especially if their family are already hard up.
The real problem is very high costs of property to rent or purchase - which the government are loathe to allow a total collapse on because previously they raked in taxes on VAT/stamp duty, and took massive bribes in order to gerrymander the market in such a way that inflated it.
As a result even a tiny office in an outer suburb costs at least 5,200 per employee per year plus rates/mgt fees/parking, and a small retail unit in Dublin is 45,000 per year. Very difficult to build any kind of business on that kind of overhead. This is crippling Ireland far more than welfare, to be honest.
Hey American! How absolutely insulting to Irish people in this current horrendous downturn. I had a period of 6 months where I COULDNT FIND WORK, I am not one to sit around and I doubt that many young people are. As you said we are hard workers and its ignorant people like you who don't actually know what their talking about that probably dealt out the subprime mortgages in the US to people that actually were lazy in the middle of a boom. You can send and send and send your CV around day after day getting hundreds of rejections including delivering these by hand and producing business cards by these young "lazy" peoples hard earned slog through college trying to set up by themselves. Grow a brain and realise that its not the "lazy young people" its the recession, no jobs=no money=must live on what is given each week=cant plan for too many extravagant business ventures or begin to reinvent the wheel.....just at the moment. So sorry for that, so sorry!!!
lol an american with an opinion. CLASSIC.
Ireland is currently fucked we all know it and believe me when people cant afford to keep their kids warm at night or provide them with the books they need for school, they tend to be trying to get work. I myself am a recent graduate and am repulsed by the idea of going on the dole. However I live in a village where of course this being Ireland has zero public transport there is literally no way for me to leave the vilage. both of my parents work and with no work available within walking distance, I am well and truely screwed. If im going to be able to go out and find a job I need to get a car. OH and guess what, that requires money. Insurance is at least a grand, I need to get lessons they're a couple of hundred oh yea and then I cant drive alone for a year once I do get my license. Its so depressing, the majority of my friends have left to go to australia. There are more of our young people in australia than there are here and that is, sadly, no exageration. I am completely isolated here and feel I will have to submit to the humiliation of signing on. After that I will have to emigrate. What other choice do I have?
Hey There Sean Drew,in all societies there are going to be people looking to exploit the welfare system , however more and more incidents of welfare fraud are being reported to the authorities due to the overwhelming national feeling of fair play.This "terrible economic rececceion" as you illiterately put it is the fruits of a elitist few traitors who put their own welfare ahead of our once great nation and a general addiction to property ownership that has been scientifically proven to date back to the diabolical treatment we suffered at the hands of our closest neighbors.That been said it still doesn't give you the right to cast aspersions on the work ethic of the Irish , after all who built your Mongrel Nation and how much blood have ye on your hands re the North American Indians alone,What Country started the Sub-prime time bomb, What's the only Country to Nuke a nation ? We as a nation will rise again and my only wish is that the Voters make a more informed decision regarding who's sailing the ship ,one that envelops the good of the Irish Public as it's main priority....as for you ...you are the stereo typical right wing republican asshole -So Fuck You Sean Drew
Pity the American can't spell "cheque" not check 👎
As a Irish living in America the past 5 years I can safely say that you Seandrew cannot comment on how lazy Irish people are as Americans get nearly a Thousand dollars a month from Government for food and also get free health care. and unemployment. Anyway that being said I do find a lot of Irish people working 50+ hours a week in the U.S and getting taxed to the point of poverty but still earn to much for any kind of benefits or assistance! so before you point fingers look at your own country. I personally think anyone claiming allowance should be drug tested and made do courses.
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