Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I can envisage cases where somebody, a qualified adult, is referred to a mental institution who has commitments to pay bills in the family home. Removal of a payment in such an instance may cause additional hardship. The Minister needs to be careful not to make this black and white, to rule out all such instances. The intention behind my amendment was positive. It recognises that if someone is abroad or in prison for a long period he or she has to make alternative arrangements and cannot be dependent on the State but there may be periods when the person is on remand, or suffering mental or physical illness, and if that person’s payment provides the main income in the household, there may be a case to continue the payment for a short period. These instances would probably be the exception rather than the rule. That is what I was trying to capture in my amendment.