Vol. 423 No. 1
432 Miss Flaherty asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason dietary allowances are not paid to all recipients of social welfare pension and benefits and who have special dietary needs; and the reason so many recipients have had allowances reduced or cut off in the past few months.
Social Welfare recipients who have a special dietary requirement arising from a health condition and whose means are insufficient to meet this need, may qualify for an additional payment under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme. Entitlement to payment is determined by the relevant Health Board.
Normally the amount of a payment would reflect the additional cost of the special diet over and above the amount a person would be expected to pay for a normal diet from their basic social welfare payment. The amount of the supplement would fall to be adjusted following changes in the amount of the basic social welfare payment e.g. through improvements in social welfare payment rates.
Changes to diet supplements in the past months may have arisen because of such reassessment of income; however, in the absence of specific information on individual cases it is not possible to determine, with certainty, the reasons for the changes referred to in the question.
If the Deputy has a particular case in mind, with which there are difficulties, I will be glad to ask the Health Board to investigate the matter.
