Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Green Paper also proposed higher rates for disability payments, and that, too, needs to be progressed. The cost of disability payment needs to be looked at. The priority is to ensure no person is living in poverty. I also refer to a number of constituents who have come to my office because their payment has been cut or curtailed without any warning. There may be perfectly good reasons for this, like a review or other incidents that have to be looked into, but the biggest problem is these people have been left without money. They cannot contact the community welfare officer. There was a time when you could go to see the community welfare officer on a set day in a local area and discuss your circumstances. The community welfare officer would be able to make a judgment on whether they needed to give you some money to keep you going. It was a brilliant system, but it is not happening now. People inquiring to see the community welfare officer are being told they have to make an application for supplementary welfare. That can take weeks. One man was in hospital for three weeks. His payment was cut while he was in there. He could not apply for supplementary welfare. He had to wait until he came out. He had bills mounting in the meantime. It is frustrating and concerning.

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