asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he is aware of the hardships caused to beneficiaries in rural areas where there is no national health insurance agent; and if he will extend the scope of the present agents in order to cover all areas.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - National Health Insurance Agents.
25.
I am not aware of any hardships caused to social welfare beneficiaries in rural areas where there is no local agent, and I do not propose to extend the agency system to cover all areas.
Would the Minister not agree that where there is no agent, a recipient of social welfare has to write to the Department and get a form, that he has then to fill that form and, until he does so, he gets no benefit? Would the Minister not agree that when a person is seriously ill it is a hardship on him to have to do that and it would be much more advantageous to him if there were an agent?
It has been found in places where agencies have been closed that there have been no disadvantages.
Surely the Minister must accept the fact that the absence of an agent from an area places a hardship on recipients of social welfare benefits. Is that not self-evident?
I do not agree there is any hardship.