S.I. No. 201/1993:

SOCIAL WELFARE (MATERNITY ALLOWANCE) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1993.

SOCIAL WELFARE (MATERNITY ALLOWANCE) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1993.

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 ) and by sections 24 and 26 of the said Act (as amended by section 8 of the Social Welfare Act, 1993 (No. 5 of 1993)) hereby makes the following Regulations:--

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Social Welfare (Maternity Allowance) (Amendment) Regulations, 1993.

(2) These Regulations and the Social Welfare (Maternity Allowance) Regulations, 1992 shall be construed together as one and may be cited together as the Social Welfare (Maternity Allowance) Regulations, 1992 and 1993.

2. In these Regulations--

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

"the Principal Regulations" means the Social Welfare (Maternity Allowance) Regulations, 1992 ( S.I. No. 87 of 1992 ).

3. These Regulations shall come into operation on the 26th day of July, 1993.

4. Article 2 of the Principal Regulations is hereby amended by--

( a ) the insertion after the definition of "allowance" of the following definitions--

"'a developing country' means any country which the Minister, having regard to the countries so designated by the United Nations Organisation, the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation and after consultation with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, may determine, for the purposes of these Regulations, to be a developing country;

'a non-governmental agency' means any organisation which has as one of its functions the promotion of relief and development in developing countries through the sponsoring or aiding of projects involving the employment of volunteer development workers in those countries; and

( b ) the insertion after the definition of "maternity leave" of the following definition--

'volunteer development worker' means a person who is employed temporarily outside the State in a developing country and has secured such employment either--

( a ) by or through the Agency for Personal Services Overseas or by or through a non-governmental agency in the State, or

( b ) by or through a governmental or non-governmental agency in any Member State of the European Economic Community other than the State, or

( c ) directly with the Government of a developing country,

and who is employed by any of the aforesaid agencies or by the Government of the developing country or by both under conditions of remuneration similar to local conditions applying in the said country and who in the cases referred to at sub-paragraph (b) and ( c ) was resident in the State immediately prior to taking up such employment.".

5. The Principal Regulations are hereby amended by the insertion after article 5 of the following article:

"5A. (1) A volunteer development worker shall be entitled to maternity allowance where she would otherwise qualify therefor but for the fact that the conditions contained in paragraphs (b) and (c) of sectin 24 (1) of the Act are not satisfied:

Provided that the condition requiring that the claimant has qualifying contributions in respect of not less than 39 contribution weeks in the period beginning with her entry into insurance and ending immediately before the first day of maternity leave is satisfied.

(2) A person who ceases to be a volunteer development worker shall be entitled to maternity allowance in respect of any claim made in the benefit year in which she returns to the State from a developing country or in the next succeeding benefit year where she would otherwise qualify therefor but for the fact that the conditions contained in paragraphs (b) and (c) of section 24 (1) of the Act are not satisfied:

Provided that the condition requiring that the claimant has qualifying contributions in respect of not less than 39 contribution weeks in the period beginning with her entry into insurance and ending immediately before the first day of maternity leave is satisfied.".

6. Article 6 of the Principal Regulations is hereby amended by the substitution in sub-article (2) of "£65" for "£60".

7. The Principal Regulations are hereby amended by the substitution for article 7 of the following article:

"7. For the purposes of paragraph (a) of section 26 (1) of the Act, the reckonable weekly earnings of a woman for any income tax year shall be calculated as one-fiftieth part of the amount of her reckonable earnings for that income tax year, fractions of a pound being disregarded, up to a maximum of £227.".

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Social Welfare this 25th day of June, 1993.

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 June, 1993.

BERTIE AHERN,

Minister for Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations provide that women employed abroad as volunteer development workers may qualify for Maternity Allowance without having to satisfy the employment condition attached to the scheme. They also set out the contribution conditions to be satisfied by a volunteer development worker in order to qualify for Maternity Allowance.

In addition, the Regulations increase the weekly minimum and maximum payment of Maternity Allowance to £65 and £159 respectively, with effect from July, 1993.