Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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208. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will supply the names of furniture shops that received payments from those in receipt of the new accommodation grant scheme to purchase furniture and other household items; if there is a register of such shops and if she will make any such register available; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21171/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off and unforeseen expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. The Government has provided over €47 million for the ENP scheme in 2013.

ENPs are payable at the discretion of the officers administering the SWA scheme taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case in order to ensure that the payments target those most in need of assistance. The Department’s legislation provides that a person may nominate another person to receive their SWA payment subject to the consent of the officer administering the scheme. The Department does not maintain statistics on payments made to furniture shops or maintain a register of such shops.