Thread: You might remember last month a very swift change to the website of the Department of Employment Affairs website. This followed controversy over the halting of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment for people who had travelled abroad: https://twitter.com/kenfoxe/status/1287703976440455168?s=20

A quick reminder of timeline. On July 26, a story appeared in the Business Post about payments being stopped. That same day, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar appeared on RTÉ’s Week in Politics saying people have to be “genuinely seeking work” to receive the payment: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/more-than-100-people-travelling-abroad-have-pandemic-payment-stopped-after-airport-checks-1.4314232

The following day, a line saying to qualify you had to be “genuinely seeking work” appeared on the Department website. It hadn’t been there the day before. On July 27, I submitted an FOI request to them about what prompted the change:

Unfortunately, the mystery has not really been solved. We do however, discover that at 7.15am on July 27 – the day after the Tánaiste’s RTÉ appearance, the following email was sent. I am redacting names of the officials:

An hour and a quarter later, a colleague responded to say that the change had been made:

A further hour passes and the officials are asked to “ensure that the genuinely seeking wording” is referenced in any other area of the website which refers to eligibility for the pandemic payment:

Around the same time, an email has been sent to the Department Secretary General providing a link to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment page. It has, as we already know, been updated at this stage. Haven’t redacted names of advisers and Secretary General:

No further records have been provided on why change was made & the curious timing of it so soon after the Tánaiste’s TV comments. On that basis, we've appealed decision asking whether searches of mobile phones, messaging services, private emails might be considered:

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