Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

In regard to Deputy Penrose's example, what would the Minister suggest a family do in such a situation? The family income supplement is supposed to benefit a family but if the family in the example Deputy Penrose gave avails of it, it will not benefit and its income will be reduced. That is an anomaly and a large number of people do not avail of the family income supplement. Is this one of the reasons families do not avail of the family income supplement? Would the Minister recommend that families do not avail of the family income supplement which is supposed to support people on low incomes? I am interested to hear his reply.

It is a crazy situation and it is the role of an Opposition spokesperson to raise it. I commend Deputy Penrose on coming up with this example. While it may be rare enough, it does occur. I am interested to know how many families are in the same situation because we know there is a low take-up of family income supplement. In the majority of cases, people are not aware of the supplement. However, those who are aware of their entitlements are afraid to avail of them because it will affect one of their other benefits. We need to eliminate this anomaly.

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