asked the Minister for Social Welfare if a person (details supplied) in County Kildare is eligible for disablement pension as he has received disability benefit for 15 years; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
124.
Invalidity pension is payable to insured persons who satisfy the contribution conditions and who are permanently incapable of work.
The person concerned has been in receipt of disability benefit since 12 February 1981. He was examined on 22 January 1987 by a medical referee who did not consider him to be permanently incapable of work and asked to have him referred for a further examination in four months. A deciding officer decided that he was not therefore entitled to invalidity pension.
As the person concerned was dissatisfied with this decision arrangements were made to have him examined by a different medical referee on 10 July 1987. However, he was unable to attend this examination and arrangements are now being made to have him examined on 21 December 1987. His entitlement to invalidity pension will be reviewed in the light of the report of that examination.
125.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare if his attention had been drawn to the fact that homeless persons who were eligible for fuel vouchers, find themselves no longer eligible; if he approves of persons of no fixed abode being barred from applying for fuel vouchers; if the decision to exclude the homeless from fuel vouchers is consistent with the Government's commitment to protect the really needy; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The national fuel scheme applies to persons in receipt of long-term social welfare or health board payments who are unable to provide for their own heating needs and are either living alone or only with persons who come within certain excepted categories.
This year for the first time the scheme has been extended to the long term unemployed where they are living alone or with dependants.
The urban fuel schemes, which are operated by 17 local authorities, provide automatic entitlement to fuel allowances for recipients of widows' pension, old age pension and blind pension resident in the areas concerned. Prior to the present heating season the urban schemes also covered unemployment assistance recipients with dependants who were resident in those areas. Unemployment assistance recipients who were homeless were not eligible under the terms of those schemes.
Arrangements are being made for the rationalisation of the fuel schemes on a phased basis. Under the first phase of this programme responsibility for providing fuel allowances to unemployment assistance recipients has been removed from the local authorities operating the urban schemes and the national fuel scheme has been extended to cover long term unemployment assistance recipients who are living alone or with dependants. From the beginning of the next heating season in October 1988 the remaining categories in the urban schemes will be transferred to the national scheme.
Persons of no fixed abode who are in receipt of an appropriate social welfare or other payment may qualify for fuel allowances provided they satisfy the living alone and other conditions which apply to recipients of those payments generally. Homeless persons who are living in hostels would not generally be eligible for fuel allowances as they do not fulfil the living alone condition of the scheme. It is known however that in a particular instance an urban authority provided fuel allowances to a hostel without regard to the entitlement of individual residents or to the fact that the residents of such hostels would frequently change rather than remain constant.
This, however, was never the intention of the fuel schemes which were devised to help individuals who satisfied the qualifying conditions rather than hostels or institutions.
126.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will arrange for arrears of overpayment of social welfare which is being deducted at £15 per week to be deducted at £8 per week from now on as the current rate of repayment is causing great hardship to a person (details supplied) in Dublin 12.
The person concerned claimed disability benefit from 13 October 1987 and payment has now been issued to 1 December 1987 the date of the latest medical certificate received. The person qualifies for disability benefit at the weekly rate of £108.20.
An overpayment of £11,915.55 was incurred due to concurrent claiming of unemployment assistance and disability benefit on two separate occasions between 1981 and 1985. The size of this overpayment requires that realistic deductions be imposed. The amount overpaid will therefore continue to be recovered by weekly deductions of £15 from current payments. A balance of £10,358.35 is outstanding. A further deduction of £1 per week is being made to recover an overpayment of £92.50 by way of advances of supplementary welfare allowance.
Payment of disability benefit will continue to be issued to the person concerned while he remains medically incapable of work.