I wish to highlight a ludicrous anomaly in the supplementary welfare system arising from the current dispute in An Post which has left possibly thousands of dependants of postal workers destitute and without any means whatsoever. The supplementary welfare allowance is supposed to be the final safety net of the social welfare system. It is designed for people who have no entitlement to other social welfare payments or are in dire need. When people have no income they go to the supplementary welfare officer who assesses their needs under a number of headings and makes an appropriate payment. Those who are directly involved in an industrial dispute do not qualify for supplementary welfare allowance but payments are paid in respect of a dependent spouse or dependent children of those involved in a dispute.
Those who have been suspended as a result of the dispute in An Post have received payments for their spouses and children. However, there are between 700 and 800 postal workers who have not been suspended but have received no wages for the past few weeks because of the suspension of personnel in the wages section of An Post. Under the current supplementary welfare allowance system these people are deemed to be still in employment and thus ineligible for supplementary welfare allowance payments. Postal workers in this category who have gone to community welfare officers throughout the country have been told quite simply that they will get nothing. The majority of these workers are married, many with children. There are no precise figures available, but between 2,000 and 3,000 spouses and children have been left without any income because of this bureaucratic interpretation of the rules. The level of hardship cannot be overstated. They have no money to put food on the table or to pay the rent or mortgage.
The irony is that if these staff members had been suspended or if they were on strike, even on unofficial strike, they would be getting payments for their dependants. I have been approached by a number of postal workers and their dependants in my constituency. One woman came to me in despair. Her husband is a postal worker in Sheriff Street and she has no job. This weekend will be the third without any income. In a family such as this money would be tight at the best of times but the total cut-off has left them in an impossible position. The rent is already in arrears and there is an ESB bill due. Although the woman is suffering from serious health problems she has been unable to go to the doctor simply because she does not have the money to pay. Repeated appeals to the local community welfare officer have drawn a blank. I know of another postman with five dependent children who was told that if he was suspended he would be getting £135 a week for his family but because he is still technically in employment in An Post he will get nothing.
Seven workers took a High Court case against An Post over non-payment of wages and Judge Lardner, in a decision given on Tuesday, ruled in their favour. Unfortunately, he declined to admit the decision as a test case, which means that every worker in An Post who is not suspended but not in receipt of wages would have to take a similar case to establish their right to be paid. Judge Lardner said that the action of the company had caused hardship, distress and anxiety. I suggest that the application of the supplementary welfare allowance regulations has greatly added to the hardship, distress and anxiety. Given that there is no sign of an end to the dispute I would appeal to the Minister to review these regulations urgently and to make supplementary welfare available to those workers who have been denied their wages on the same basis as to suspended workers or to those on strike. It is surely wrong and immoral to victimise the children of those who are affected in this dispute.
