asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of applications which have been received by his Department for new widowers' and deserted husbands' allowance; and if the Christmas bonus will be paid to all applicants whose applications were received before the end of November.
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
20.
The number of applications received to date for the new widowers and deserted husbands' allowance schemes is 912.
All applicants who are awarded the allowance from a date on or before 7 December 1989, in the case of deserted husbands, and 8 December 1989, in the case of widowers, will be entitled to the Christmas bonus. This will be paid either directly or by way of an arrears cheque as soon as possible. This obviously also means that all applicants who are qualified for these new allowances and whose applications have been received by the end of November 1989 will be entitled to a Christmas bonus.
21.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare if his attention has been drawn to the fact that some people who might otherwise be in receipt of rent allowance are unable to claim this allowance because they are unable to show evidence of payment of rent as they have not been furnished with a rent book; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Where assistance with rent costs is being sought under the supplementary welfare allowances scheme, health boards generally must have evidence, for normal control and audit purposes, of the amount of rent payments other than that supplied by the applicant.
Where claimants have difficulties in securing rent books or receipts the health boards will do all in their power to obtain verification, by some other means, of rent being paid. I am aware of a recent case where satisfactory evidence could not be obtained and the health board had to refuse payment of a rent supplement. In that case, the health board offered to assist the person concerned with the deposit and weekly rent for new accommodation.
The Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) Regulations, 1982 oblige landlords to provide tenants of formerly controlled dwellings with rent books. The question of extending this requirement to all private rented dwellings is under consideration by the Department of the Environment in the context of a general review of the private rented sector.
22.
asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will consider extending the new allowance scheme for widowers and deserted fathers to deserted fathers who are not married to the mother of their children; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I introduced a new scheme of allowances for widowers and deserted husbands with dependent children in the Social Welfare Act, 1989. Following this I made arrangements to bring the new scheme into operation from October this year. There are now six separate social assistance schemes providing income support to lone parents. These schemes also differentiate between men and women. Accordingly, there is clearly scope for rationalisation in this whole area.
I informed the Dáil on 7 March 1989 during the debate on the Second Stage of the Social Welfare Bill, 1989 that I was examining the possibility of replacing these schemes by one lone parent's allowance scheme for parents who are bringing up children on their own. In this context the position of unmarried fathers and of parents who are separated or who have been divorced in another jurisdiction and who do not come within the scope of the existing schemes is being examined.
The study of this matter is being finalised at present and I expect to be in a position to bring forward proposals on the issue in the near future.