Vol. 376 No. 5
asked the Minister for Health if he will amend the disabled persons' maintenance allowance regulations of 1984 so that an allowance payable thereunder is not reduced when the spouse of the recipient finds employment and thereby bring the regulations into line with payments made under the social welfare code.
195.
asked the Minister for Health the reason the same criteria regarding the EC Equality Directive are not applied to persons in receipt of a disabled persons' maintenance allowance from a Health Board as they are to people receiving payments from his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take Questions Nos. 194 and 195 together.
Under the Disabled Persons Maintenance Allowance Regulations, 1984, a health board in assessing the amount of an allowance to be paid to a disabled person is obliged to take into account the income of the person and the income of the person's spouse. As the disabled person may be either male or female the question of sexual discrimination does not arise and the EC Equality directive is not relevant.
