Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 April 2012
448 Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will provide a breakdown of exceptional means payments in tabular form made to social welfare recipients over the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20582/12]
View answerUnder the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off, exceptional expenditure, which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. These ENP payments are a vital component of the SWA scheme and link the income support function of the scheme with the wider welfare role of the Department's Community Welfare Service.
There is no automatic entitlement to a payment, or no predetermined amounts under the different categories for exceptional needs payments. ENP's are payable at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case in order to ensure that the payments target those most in need of assistance. The following tabular statement sets out expenditure under the exceptional needs scheme for the years 2007 to 2011:
|
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
|
|
No of payments |
234,933 |
259,870 |
236,687 |
218,000 |
226,200 |
|
Expenditure |
€69.8m |
€82.3m |
€76.4m |
€71.2m |
€62.9m |
