Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Thankfully it is a bit cheaper to die in Limerick but it is still quite expensive. With regard to the burial grant, the Minister stated that in certain circumstances there is a direct cash grant of €6,000 and a continuous payment for six weeks to the surviving pensioner. My point is both of these benefits existed previously in conjunction with the bereavement grant The Minister stated the Government has abolished the bereavement grant but these two other grants were not abolished. As far as the exceptional needs payment is concerned, I have found that in practice it is true to say the bereavement grant would have been deducted from the general level of the exceptional needs grant.

However, in terms of the community welfare officer deciding that somebody is entitled to €1,200, in the past if they got a bereavement grant they deducted the €800 and the bill that fell on the community welfare officer was €400. The bill that will have to be met now by the community welfare officer is, in theory anyway, €1,200. The bottom of page 25 of the brief clearly states that expenditure on the exceptional needs payment scheme will be reduced by €2.1 million in 2014 so the fund out of which all those extra payments are paid is basically reduced.