Vol. 546 No. 1
153 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if there is provision for his Department, pending a decision on a claim, to make interim rent or mortgage interest payments directly to the person instead of the person seeking such assistance from community welfare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31197/01]
Under the terms of the supplementary welfare allowance, SWA, scheme payment of a weekly or monthly supplement may be made in respect of rent or mortgage interest to any person in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs. The scheme is administered on behalf of my Department by the health boards and neither I nor my Department have any function in deciding entitlement in individual cases. While my Department has responsibility in relation to the formulation of the policy under which the SWA scheme operates, the day to day administration of the scheme, which includes deciding entitlement to SWA and the authorisation of payments in the case of successful applicants, is a matter for the health boards. There is no provision for my Department to pay interim payments of rent or mortgage interest supplements to people pending a decision on a claim.
While administrative difficulties leading to occasional delays can arise in local districts from time to time for a variety of reasons, in general there should be no delay in making such payments by health boards. The conditions for receiving rent and mortgage interest supplement, and the associated administrative arrangements, will be examined as part of the review of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme which is currently being undertaken as part of my Department's series of formal programme evaluations. Any changes that are needed will be considered in that context.
