Vol. 423 No. 5
37 Mrs. Taylor-Quinn asked the Minister for Social Welfare if his attention has been drawn to the hardship currently being experienced by British social welfare recipients resident in Ireland; and if he will introduce immediately a scheme to alleviate the difficulties.
107 Miss Coughlan asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will increase social welfare payments to those who are in receipt of UK and Northern Ireland benefits in order to bring them on a par with Irish benefits, due to the drop in sterling.
122 Mr. Connor asked the Minister for Social Welfare if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the value of old age pensions and other health and security payments from the British Department of Health and Social Security to recipients in Ireland, have fallen in value by up to 20 per cent in recent weeks as a result of the currency crisis; and if he intends to make increases in reduced rate Irish pensions and other payments payable to these recipients to compensate them for their severe financial loss.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 37, 107 and 122 together. Persons in receipt of incomes from the United Kingdom by way of pensions or otherwise can experience either gains or losses depending on the ongoing exchange rates between sterling and the Irish pound. Those in receipt of such pensions have experienced for some considerable time an improvement in income, as their pensions gained in value during the period when the Irish pound remained below parity with sterling. It is only in very recent weeks that this advantage has been eroded.
Any person in receipt of a United Kingdom retirement pension whose means has changed as a result of the change in value of sterling may be entitled to an old age non-contributory pension from my Department depending on the amount of their UK pension and other means. A United Kingdom pensioner who is already in receipt of an old age (non-contributory) pension and whose means have dropped as a result is entitled to request a review of his or her means assessment at any time. In either case, if current unfavourable sterling/ punt exchange rates persist, these will be incorporated in an average exchange rate system used by my Department to assess means.
People in receipt of United Kingdom pensions who are experiencing difficulty as a result of their income falling below the appropriate rate of supplementary welfare allowance for their family size should contact the community welfare officer at their local health centre.
