I propose to take Questions Nos. 191 and 192 together.
The income maintenance needs of asylum seekers are met for the most part by the health boards who administer the supplementary welfare allowance scheme on behalf of my Department. The scheme provides entitlement to any person in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs. Payment is made in accordance with the relevant social welfare legislation as long as the person is resident in the State.
Where a person has access to some resources either in cash or in kind this is taken into account in determining entitlement to Social Welfare Allowance. This occurs in the case of asylum seekers who are being provided with full board accommodation under the direct provision system. This is accordance with part 111 of the Third Schedule of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act which states that the value of any benefit and privilege should be assessed in determining the rate of Social Welfare Allowance payable in any individual case.
Direct provision was introduced on 10 April 2000 on foot of a Government decision taken in September 1998 that the basic needs of asylum seekers should be met in that way. It is operated by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform on foot of a further Government decision taken in November 1998. My colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, has not introduced legislation to give a statutory basis to these Government decisions.