[ad_1]
A Lithuanian citizen who has lived here for the past 18 years has filed a challenge with the High Court after her Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment (PUP) payment was stopped when she was stranded in Lithuania and was unable to return to Ireland during the first lock.
Vilma Cekanaviciute had left for Lithuania for a two-week break in March but, when the blockade was imposed, her return flight was canceled and she was unable to return to Ireland until July.
She has filed a lawsuit in an effort to restore and update her Covid-19 puppy.
His is the first in a series of similar complaints about the PUP that may be brought to court in the coming months.
Judge Garrett Simons on Monday granted Ms Cekanaviciute permission to initiate judicial review proceedings against the Minister of Social Protection.
On March 8, Ms. Cekanaviciute had traveled to Lithuania with her two-year-old daughter for two weeks. Since she is receiving a single-parent family payment, she informed the Department of Social Welfare of her travel plans.
While in Lithuania, the Covid-19 pandemic is claimed to have escalated significantly across Europe.
On March 20, he was informed that his flight back to Ireland for March 27 was canceled. He was unable to return to Ireland until July 4 on one of the first flights to Dublin.
Ms Cekanaviciute had applied for PUP in early April and received it until mid-May, when it was suspended.
What is at issue in the case is whether physical presence in Ireland was a precondition for receiving payment from Covid-19. Ms. Cekanaviciute maintains that this was not the case and stresses that she has resided here for 18 years.
The fact that she was physically out of state after being stranded abroad by a global pandemic does not affect whether she was currently residing or living in Ireland, she says.
Ms Cekanaviciute, Waterville, Blanchardstown, Dublin, is, under judicial review, seeking an order overturning the May 12, 2020 decision to stop her PUP on the grounds that she was not residing in Ireland or had left the state.
She claims that in June 2020 she refused to reinstate and roll back her payment, and a determination that she was not a resident of Ireland and was ineligible for payment was illegal, irrational and not supported by facts. You also want an order forcing the Minister to determine your request for reinstatement and late payment.
In an affidavit, he said, when he traveled to Lithuania, if he had known that he would not be able to catch a flight back to Dublin, he would never have gone. It was never published that he couldn’t leave the country and thought he was operating within the rules at all times, he said.
She thought that the Minister’s review of the suspension of Covid-19 payments would have resolved the situation, as she considered that what happened to her was “clearly unfair”. He added that he did not fully understand the reasons why the payment had been stopped.
[ad_2]