asked the Minister for social Welfare if he will sympathetically consider amending the Social Welfare (Absence from the State) Regulations, 1967, to allow disability benefit to be paid to a disabled person who visits a non-EEC country for humanitarian reasons following the death of a near relative and who furnishes medical evidence of continuing medical incapacity; if not, why; and if he will furnish details, in respect of each of the last three years, of the number of persons who were disqualified to receive benefits in such circumstances.
Written Answers. - Disability Benefit.
410.
I have no proposals at present to amend the Social Welfare (Absence from the State) Regulations, 1967, as suggested by the Deputy. Under those regulations payment of disability benefit may be made to a person in a non-EEC country only when he goes there for the specific purpose of receiving treatment for incapacity which commenced before he left the State. The relevant EEC regulations provide for payment of disability benefit to persons who go to other EEC member states.
There are no statistics available of the number of persons who were disqualified for receiving benefits due to absences from the State in non-EEC countries but it is known that very few cases have occurred.
411.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare why a person (details supplied) in Dublin was deprived of disability benefit although medical evidence of continuing disability was furnished for a period during which he accompanied his recently bereaved wife on a visit to her widowed mother in her homeland in Finland; and if this person will be eligible to receive any other benefit in lieu of disability benefit to assist him in meeting unavoidable expenditures such as mortgage repayments during the period in question.
Under the Social Welfare Act, 1952, a person who is absent from the State is disqualified for receipt of disability benefit except where regulations otherwise provide. In the case of a person absent in a non-EEC country, the regulations provide for payment of disability benefit only if the absence is for the specific purpose of receiving treatment for incapacity which commenced before he left the State. Disability benefit could not, therefore, be paid to the person referred to for the period of his visit to Finland and he is not eligible to receive any other benefit under the social insurance system in lieu of disability benefit for the period in question.
If, however, he is in necessitous circumstances it is open to him to apply for aid under the Supplementary Welfare Allowances Scheme. Such application may be made to any office of the local health board.