415 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if persons who are handicapped and have not been in a position to pay PRSI contributions through employment can obtain a funeral grant; if this situation applies to persons in this category under the age of 22; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17379/01]
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
Jackie Healy-Rae
Question:418 Mr. Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the discrimination against a certain group of people with intellectual disability or mental handicap, whose families are being refused the payment of a burial grant, on the grounds of being over 22 years of age, without being in full-time education until that age and without PRSI contributions; the steps he will take to remedy this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16598/01]
Breeda Moynihan-Cronin
Question:421 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the proposals he has to extend the burial grant to those with a disability and who are not in a position to contribute to the social insurance fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16621/01]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 415, 418 and 421 together.
Michael Ring
Question:416 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the way in which the pension of a person (details supplied) in County Mayo was calculated; and the reason it was reduced. [16549/01]
The person concerned is receiving a reduced rate old age non-contributory pension of £45.50 per week currently, based on her means of IR£56.00 a week derived from a British pension.
417 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the total number of unemployment benefit claims made to his Department in each of the past three years from persons who work in school related activities for eight or nine months of the year but are out of work for some of the summer months; his views on whether it is reasonable to expect such persons to find work from an employer for a two month period before going back to school related work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16561/01]
Social welfare legislation provides that a person must satisfy the conditions of being available for and genuinely seeking work in order to be entitled to unemployment benefit or assistance. The relevant legislation specifies the circumstances in which a person is, or is not, deemed to be available for and genuinely seeking employment.
In applying the legislation, deciding officers have regard to the availability of job vacancies in the locality and to the extent to which a claimant has sought to take advantage of existing labour market opportunities. Any person who fails to satisfy the deciding officer that he or she is available for full-time employment and genuinely seeking work is not entitled to an unemployment payment. Persons employed in the educational sector are treated in the same way and are expected to meet the same requirements as other claimants in that regard.
The number of persons whose stated employment was in the education sector and who qualified for unemployment payments in the months of June, July and August was 4,710 in 1999 and 2,947 in 2000. The number of such claims disallowed in the same period was 271 in 1999 and 566 in 2000.
Where a person is dissatisfied with a decision made by a deciding officer he or she may appeal this decision to the social welfare appeals office. Under social welfare legislation decisions in relation to claims must be made by deciding officers and appeals officers. These officers are statutorily appointed and I have no role in regard to making such decisions.
Brian O'Shea
Question:419 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the proposals he has to extend eligibility for the free schemes to widows under the age of 66; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16599/01]
The free travel scheme is available to all people resident in the State aged 66 years or over. The other free schemes, including the free electricity or gas allowance, free telephone rental allowance and free television licence schemes, are generally available to people living in the State, aged 66 years or over, who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who pass a means test. They are also available to carers and people with disabilities under the age of 66 who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments.
Widows and widowers aged from 60 to 65 whose late spouses had been in receipt of the free schemes retain that entitlement to ensure that households do not suffer a loss of entitlements following the death of a spouse.
The Review of the Free Schemes, which was published by the Policy Institute, Trinity College, Dublin in April last year, noted that the free schemes share a common set of objectives in the area of social inclusion. These are defined as: to provide assistance to those living alone by targeting them with specific benefits providing both income and social inclusion gains; to support older people and people with disabilities in their wish to remain in the community as opposed to institutional care; and to support Government policy which seeks to acknowledge the value of older people in society.
The Review of the Free Schemes examined the many demands to extend the free schemes to other groups, including widows and widowers using social inclusion objectives as the criteria for decision. It considered that the schemes as currently constituted provide a basic package that ensures a limited standard of comfort or well-being to a particular targeted group, that is based on age or disability.
Widow/ers who are not living alone may experience social exclusion but they are not groups in need of community care support nor do they experience the same physical risks of isolation as older people and people with disabilities.
The review noted that, where payment levels are adequate, any extension of the free schemes must be based solely on increased social benefits that are over and above those which can be purchased by increased income.
Accordingly, the review concluded that the schemes should not be extended further to additional groups of people or to include other types of schemes. Overall the proposals in the review are being examined in the context of future budgets and available resources.