Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter. In Chapter 2 of her annual report for 2003, the Ombudsman states:

This complaint against the South Western Area Health Board in relation to a grandmother's entitlement to Foster Care Allowance highlights a difficulty which I understand faces many others in a similar position. I hope that by drawing attention to the matter the Oireachtas might consider alterations to the legislation.

This week the Minister announced that no such review would take place, which is a pity. The case in question is complicated and I have been dealing with it for more than two years. The person at the centre of the case had been dealing with the South Western Area Health Board for more than two years before that because of her circumstances.

This is not a unique case. This problem is faced by many people, especially grandparents, in Dublin, Cork and other areas, whose relatives have succumbed to drug or alcohol addiction and are not capable of rearing their children. In many cases the children are taken into care by relatives who cannot bear to see children as young as six months old abandoned. No human being could allow this to happen. In the case to which I refer, the mother did not notice for three days that the grandmother had taken her children away. This is the type of situation we are dealing with — the parent or parents are incapable of caring for their children at a certain time.

The problem in this case is that the children have not officially been put into the care of the health board so the relatives who have taken over the care of the children are not entitled to a fostering allowance. They must declare the children as orphans so they can receive the orphan's allowance, which is €97 per child, while the fostering allowance is nearly three times as much. The latter also allows carers to avail of grants to provide room for the additional family members who have been imposed upon them by their children's circumstances. It is no mean feat for grandparents to raise a second family starting from scratch. The Child Care Act 1991 allows for fostering by relatives.

I have written to the European Committee on Petitions to highlight this case because I do not believe the Ombudsman understood the circumstances fully. In this case a care worker had been assigned, which means the children were in the care of the health board. The health board disputes this, despite the existence of written proof, and we have not received a satisfactory answer.

This is just one case and there are many others in which people have not even been able to receive orphan's allowance. Some people received two allowances and lost out when the provisions in this area were changed recently. A review of the fostering allowance and orphan's allowance would be appropriate so that we can start to deal with these problems effectively.

The extra money these grandparents would receive through the fostering allowance would help ensure their quality of life. The family is living in a two-bedroom house with teenage sons and the husband has serious back problems. Two extra children must now live in the house. This is not abnormal. The poverty faced by grandparents in working class areas in Dublin, Cork and probably Limerick, although I have not dealt with cases in that area, is disgraceful. They should have some support. If these grandparents abandoned the children to the health board, the health board would deal with the problem and ask them to take the children in, but no family is willing to abandon young children in this way.

The Minister should address the issue and carry out a review.

See this speech in context