Vol. 415 No. 1
393 Mr. Belton asked the Minister for Health if, having regard to her reply to Parliamentary Question No. 132 on Tuesday, 5 November 1991, she will clarify the position with regard to those people who applied for disabled person's maintenance allowance prior to 21 July 1991 and were entitled to this in their own right but did not receive it at the time.
As my predecessor indicated in response to a question from the Deputy on 5 November last, the regulations governing disabled person's maintenance allowance were changed from 21 July 1991 to bring the method of calculating the allowance payable to a disabled person whose spouse is in receipt of a social welfare payment into line with the arrangements that apply to spouses under the social welfare system generally.
The effect of the regulations is that the total amount payable to couples in such cases is limited to the equivalent of one full personal rate and one adult dependant rate.
In relation to a person who had applied for DPMA before 21 July 1991 and whose spouse was in receipt of a social welfare payment, the regulations provide that that person shall be paid in the manner described above unless he or she had before 21 July 1991 specifically claimed any additional amount over and above that rate of payment.
