Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I want to move on to another issue, which is social welfare appeals and disability regarding people who have worked and who have been self-employed. There is a particular case I want to highlight as an issue. A person has been diagnosed with MS and can no longer work. I have been dealing with the Department on this case for more than 12 months. The issue is that the person has a mortgage of €1,000 a month. In order for this to be paid the person has let out rooms. All of the rent is going towards the mortgage but the Department is treating it as income. The person is now in receipt of €50 per week. Everyone knows MS is not an easy condition to manage. I am surprised by the way the Department is assessing it and not taking into account the mortgage. This person would not qualify for a local authority house. If the person sells the house and goes on the market to rent it would cost €1,200 to €1,400 a month. The person has been very careful about managing these affairs but the Department is taking the rent for the letting of rooms as an income. People who are working and earning €50,000 a year and earning €14,000 from letting rooms would not be taxed on it. We have gone to the other extreme in dealing with social welfare.