Vol. 417 No. 5
427 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will consider allowing persons on a low income, such as a person (details supplied) in Dublin 12 to claim for the first three days when applying for disability benefit since their income is already severely restricted.
Generally, applicants for disability benefit do not receive any payment for the first three days. These "waiting days" have applied to the disability benefit scheme since is inception, and a a feature of social security systems in many countries. I would not favour removing these three waiting days, as this would lead to substantial additional costs, as well as creating an incentive to short term absenteeism.
I would like to point out that many employees would be paid occupational sick pay during the three days in question. Furthermore, where a person has no other income, supplementary welfare allowance can be paid.
No record can be traced in my Department of any recent claim to disability benefit from the person referred to in the question.
