A NEW register for people who are signing on as unemployed but in reality are unable to work may be established by the Department of Social Welfare.
The Minister, Mr De Rossa, said that there were groups of people, like drug addicts, who were signing on but were not really available for work.
If we knew how many there are it might be possible to do something to meet their needs," Mr De Rossa said. While the new register might be seen as a device to reduce the numbers officially unemployed, he said there was a real problem to be addressed. A gap had developed in the social welfare system whereby many people with health problems, who had never been medically certified as ill, signed on because they had no feasible alternative.
A new register could lead to new services being put in place. He refused to speculate on the numbers of people involved, but accepted the figure could be several thousand.
Mr De Rossa, who was speaking after the launch of a major discussion document on social insurance at Government Buildings in Dublin yesterday, also said that he was looking at ways of trying to extend the carer's allowance scheme. There are 7,500 people receiving the allowance, which is means tested and worth a maximum of £67 a week.
Mr De Rossa said at least 60,000 people were looking after dependants in their own homes and the number was going to grow as the population aged.
He said that the financial implications of extending the scheme were considerable, so was the call it would make on back-up facilities such as community health services. But he added that he was keen to address the problem now, rather than let it grow.