Vol. 493 No. 3
340 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will sanction the grant for the burial expense in respect of persons (details supplied) who passed away in February 1998; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16135/98]
The supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme is administered by the eight health boards and the Department has no function in deciding entitlement in individual cases.
Section 181 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993, makes provisions under the SWA scheme for a health board to make a single payment to help meet essential, once-off, exceptional expenditure, which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of his or her weekly income. These payments are known as exceptional needs payments (ENPs).
There is no automatic right of entitlement to an ENP. Eligible people would normally be in receipt of a social welfare or health board payment. ENPs are payable at the discretion of the health board taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case. The person concerned made an application for an ENP towards the cost of the financial expenses of a couple, one of whom died on 14 February 1998. The second person died on 13 April 1998. An application for assistance with the funeral expenses was made three weeks ago at which time the community welfare officer requested a copy of the will. The copy of the will was received on the 25 June 1998.
The application is currently under consideration by the superintendent community welfare officer and the person concerned will be notified of the decision on the claim as soon as possible. If the person concerned is not happy with the decision when given, he can lodge an appeal with the appeals officer in the health board.
My Department has paid a death grant in respect of one of the decreased persons but no application has as yet been received in respect of the other deceased person. An application form has been issued in this regard.
