Three people living and working here who sued over their pandemic unemployment payments being stopped for periods when they travelled abroad last year for various reasons have settled their High Court actions.
The separate cases, against the Minister of Social Protection, were struck out on terms that all three will get the PUP payments they were denied, plus their legal costs.
The three are an Irish waitress who travelled to Turkey for a holiday and stayed on for dental treatment after she broke a tooth while there; a cleaner who spent two weeks in her native Romania to finalise legal proceedings; and a kitchen porter who initially travelled to his native Mexico for four weeks for a holiday and medical treatment but was unable to get back here until late August due to flight cancellations.
All three claimed the decisions to stop their €350 weekly PUPs on the basis they were not eligible by virtue of being either not resident in Ireland or having left the State were erroneous and unlawful.
Eligibility criteria
They claimed they met all eligibility criteria for the PUP, including that an applicant “live in the Republic of Ireland”. There is no condition that an applicant must remain in the country at all times, they argued.
Brendan Hennessy BL, instructed by solicitor Eileen McCabe, for the applicants, secured the strike out orders, on consent of the sides, from High Court registrar Lisa Scott during a callover of cases on Tuesday.
Counsel said all three applicants had had their PUP payments stopped when they left the country. On the basis of a compromise, the cases could be struck out on the basis they would get their full payments and their legal costs, he said.
Cleaning firm
One of the applicants, Cristina Dumitru, a Romanian national, with an address in Tallaght, Dublin, has lived in Ireland for four years.
Her employer, a Dublin cleaning firm, wrote to her on March 18th 2020 stating many of its clients premises were closing due to the Covid-19 pandemic and she could apply for the PUP.
She travelled home to Romania on July 26th 2020 to finalise legal proceedings and returned to Dublin on August 13th 2020. A week before she travelled, she phoned her local Intreo office to inform them she intended to travel for essential legal matters and would return within about two weeks.
She was told her PUP would be stopped for the two weeks she was away and would not resume until after she completed two weeks quarantine on her return here. After the four weeks, she re-applied for the payment and it was reinstated.
Waitress
Michelle Brereton, a waitress with an address in Drumcondra, Dublin, was working in a Dublin catering company when the Covid-19 lockdown happened.
She received the PUP from April 2019, but it was stopped for a time when she went to Turkey in July 2020 for a pre-booked holiday. While there, one of her teeth broke, and she remained to have work done on it.
She claimed there was no legal basis for her PUP being stopped for the five weeks she was abroad.
Kitchen porter
Luis Alberto Gomez Gonzalez, with an address at Drumcondra Road, Dublin, is a Mexican national living here for more than six years. He was working full-time as a kitchen porter in a Dublin hotel in February 2020 when he developed severe headaches.
Having been advised he would have to wait several months for an appointment with a neurological specialist, his employer agreed he could take four weeks holidays to travel home to his native Mexico and perhaps receive medical treatment.
He went to Mexico on March 6th and his employer contacted him on March 23rd saying, due to the pandemic, the hotel would be closed until May 2021 and he was being temporarily laid off.
His employer attached the PUP form and Mr Gonzalez applied for the PUP on March 26th 2021.
Due to flight cancellations arising from the pandemic, he was unable to book a flight to Dublin until June 8th 2021, which flight was also cancelled. He eventually secured a flight to Dublin via France on August 26th 2020.
Following an interview with a social welfare inspector on August 28th, he was told he did not meet the eligibility criteria for the PUP because he was not resident in the Republic from March 6th to August 26th.
