Resigned from job... Dole?

Hi There,

I'm writing on behalf of my sister. She's had a pretty rough year. she split from her Fiance and lost her home, then got news of our father being ill, as well as some other awful personal issues which happened to her. Due to the stress of it all, she got depressed... She wouldn't talk to anyone, and it came to our attention recently that she hadn't been turning up to work. Her job then gave her the option to jump or be pushed, so she chose to resign. This was all done in secret and only came to my attention recenlty, when she told me what happened. I contacted her job and explained about the hard time she had, but the people she worked for wouldn't be the most tactful. They said that they could understand and would employ her. She feels that by going back she would be suject to gossiping and general uncomfortableness.
My question is: the fact that she has left a job, can she claim unemployment benefit of any kind while she finds another job, which she is activley seeking right now?

She should just sign on and see if she qualifies for PRSI linked Jobseeker's Benefit or means tested Jobseeker's Allowance and, if so, if the claim can be backdated at all. Even if she does not qualify for a payment signing on means that she will benefit from PRSI credits towards long term (e.g. pension) benefits while seeking work. She should also ask SW and maybe CitizensInformation etc. about any other supports/payments to which she might be entitled in case there are any.

I don't really understand the relevance of some of your post above to the nub of the query and why the employer would push her out but then say that they were prepared to (re)employ her.