Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 12 May 1993

Vol. 430 No. 6

Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.

Robert Molloy

Ceist:

14 Mr. Molloy asked the Minister for Social Welfare the arrangements, if any, he has made with regional health boards to have supplementary welfare allowance-rent and mortgage paid at the same time and in the same place to people in receipt of unemployment benefit or unemployment assistance; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Social Welfare (Dr. Woods)

Discussions are taking place between officials of my Department and the Southern Health Board with a view to putting arrangements in place to have rent and mortgage supplements paid to social welfare clients at local offices. Progress on these arrangements will be monitored closely by my Department with a view to considering extension of any arrangements which prove to be successful to other local offices of my Department.

In order to minimise inconvenience for clients who must attend at health centres for payment of rent or mortgage supplements, monthly payment has been introduced, where possible, by health boards. In a number of areas, rent or mortgage payments are posted to clients. These initiatives, which continue to be developed, have reduced significantly the frequency of attendance at health centres for the clients involved.

My Department is also currently designing a new computerised system which will integrate all short term payments including supplementary welfare allowance. This new system will enable multiple payments, such as those referred to by the Deputy, to be made to recipients. It will be introduced on a pilot basis in late 1994.

Dinny McGinley

Ceist:

15 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will extend the free travel concession to certain categories of handicapped people living in institutions who have no entitlement to free travel at present, because they are not in receipt of the qualifying payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Social Welfare (Dr. Woods)

The free travel scheme operated by my Department was introduced in 1967 with the aim of encouraging elderly people to remain active in the community. The scope of the scheme was broadened to include incapacitated people in 1977 when it was extended to recipients of disabled person's maintenance allowance.

I recognised that many disabled person's maintenance allowance recipients, especially those suffering from mental handicap, were not getting any real benefit from having free travel passes because they were unable to travel alone. Accordingly, I introduced in 1990 a companion pass for the benefit of disabled person's maintenance allowance recipients who were certified to be unable to travel alone. The companion pass is a special version of the free travel pass which enables a companion to travel free with the pass-holder.

I introduced a further improvement in the 1991 budget whereby disabled person's maintenance allowance recipients entering residential care would retain their companion pass notwithstanding the fact that they had ceased to be disabled person's maintenance allowance recipients. Furthermore, the 1992 budget provided for the restoration of free travel passes to persons in residential care who had been disabled person's maintenance allowance recipients before going into care and who had been obliged under the old rules to give up their passes. The effect of these measures is that free travel passes are now retained by those in residential care who had been entitled to them when they were in receipt of disabled person's maintenance allowance.

I recently extended, with effect from June 1, the free travel companion pass to include people on invalidity pensions who are confined to wheelchairs.

Any further extension of the free travel scheme to accommodate additional groups would have financial implications and could only be considered in the light of available resources. I will consider the category of persons referred to by the Deputy in the context of any further extension of the free travel scheme which may arise in the future.