I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise this issue, which increasingly demands our attention, and I also thank the Minister for coming to the House to respond to it.
This case has been going on for some time and, strictly speaking, I should not have to raise it in the House at all. It is a simple issue of a public representative writing to the relevant authority to seek assistance for a person in need. This lady separated from her husband four and a half years ago. At that time she had accrued some arrears but that was through no fault of her own. She and her husband had a shared ownership loan, giving the local authority a considerable equity in the property in question and there was no difficulty re-adjusting the payments when her income was determined. The arrears, however, still remained.
The manner in which this issue was dealt with is the matter I wish to raise. I was a member of a health board for 15 years and I have been making representations for constituents for 27 years and I was appalled recently to get a smart ass letter in reply to my representation that pointed out how the respondent would deal with the matter in future. As I pointed out to him, I made representations to the responsible authority and I do not want consultations with anyone else. I do not want to write to MABS, the credit union or the bank. I responded in the correct way.
In the past few days I had occasion to send a reminder. The Minister will say that the community welfare section of her Department made an attempt to contact the lady in question in the last few days. Of course it did and I know why. My first acknowledgement from the relevant health authority was on 23 December 1999. With no disrespect to the officials concerned, and this does not reflect on the Minister, there was only one way to deal with such nonsense.
It is time we recognised that assistance for a good household manager, like this lady, who is on a tight fixed income, is the responsibility of the community welfare officer and, in saying that, I mean no disrespect to MABS.
This is a landmark issue and similar cases will arise but I hope I will not have to bring them to the attention of the House. I am sure the Minister would not want me to, but that will not deter me if I have to.