asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will extend the provision of providing all information to applicants in relation to assessments of means by deciding officers against the applicants for all means-tested social welfare payments.
Written Answers. - Means Assessment Information.
164.
Applicants for social assistance payments are informed as to the amount of means assessed against them in deciding their claim. A more detailed breakdown of the means assessment into its different components is supplied on request. In the case of smallholder applicants for unemployment assistance who were transferred in recent times from a notional to a factual system of means assessment the details of farm income and expenses as ascertained by the social welfare officer in the course of his investigation is made available to the applicant. Arrangements are being made to extend this to all farmer applicants for social assistance payments as soon as possible.