Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 29 May 1990

Vol. 399 No. 3

Written Answers. - Community Welfare Services.

Richard Bruton

Ceist:

40 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Social Welfare the advertising that he is undertaking of the services available from the community welfare service, specifying the type of advertising and the locations where it is undertaken; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Social Welfare (Dr. Woods)

I am very conscious of the needs of those depending on the services for which I am responsible and of the part that information has to play in ensuring that these needs are met.

The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered by the community welfare officers of the regional health boards from more than 800 centres throughout the country. The very wide dispersal, at local level, of health centres and other outlets from which the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme is administered gives clients direct access, on a personal basis, to information on the scheme.

Literature is also widely available on the scheme. There is a leaflet giving general information on all aspects of the scheme with separate leaflets on particular aspects such as rent/mortgage supplements and allowances for children's footwear.

Posters have also been displayed in local social welfare offices, health centres and centres for the unemployed to alert the public to these additional leaflets and the additional benefits of the scheme. The leaflets may be obtained from the health boards or from my Department's information offices throughout the country. Information can also be obtained from community information centres and many local voluntary groups.

I recently announced a new back to school clothing and footwear scheme with effect from the start of the next school year which will be administered as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. A new leaflet on this scheme will be made available shortly and other appropriate publicity will be given to the new arrangements in good time.

In addition health boards may, where appropriate, place paid advertisements in local newspapers giving information on aspects of the scheme and inviting applications. The footwear and national fuel schemes have been publicised and applications have been invited in this way over the years.

As part of my policy of making information on people's entitlements much more widely available, my Department have been revising and up-dating leaflets on all the services available from the Department. New guides for the unemployed introduced recently — one on unemployment assistance and the other on unemployment benefit — specifically highlight the extra benefits available to the unemployed under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. These guides have been widely distributed through local social welfare offices and unemployed centres. The comprehensiveGuide to Social Welfare Services and the complementary rates booklet are currently being revised and will contain more detailed information on the various benefits available under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme.