Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 2 Mar 1999

Vol. 501 No. 3

Written Answers. - Means Tests.

Jim O'Keeffe

Question:

299 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the cost to his Department in relation to non-contributory pensions and other payments of conducting means tests, with current disregards, on the basis of actual rather than notional income. [6271/99]

Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

I have already indicated to the Deputy recently that it would not be feasible to assess means from capital on the basis of actual returns from investments. As there are over 450,000 people in reciept of social assistance payments, this would necessitate frequent reviews of entitlements of a very significant number of recipients whenever interest rates fluctuated or the capital was moved into a different investment option. For this reason a notional value is ascribed to the capital owned.

There are a wide range of investment options currently available, for example, deposit accounts, special savings accounts, investments in stocks and shares and Government securities etc. The rate of return varies considerably as between these different investment options and, therefore, it would not be possible to calculate the cost of assessing means on the basis of the actual interest earned.

It should be borne in mind that the objective of the present capital assessment arrangements, which were introduced by the previous rainbow Government, is to ensure that those with smaller amounts of capital at their disposal receive a greater share of available support then those who have large amounts of capital available to contribute, at least partially, towards meeting their needs.