Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)

The Minister acknowledged that most of the anomalies are brought to his attention by Deputies from his party and the Opposition. I raised the following anomaly with four previous Ministers. A person was in receipt of the carer's allowance as she was looking after a relative of her husband in her house. The relative was doubly incontinent and bedridden. Her husband was killed in a road accident and she qualified for the widow's pension the following week. However, as soon as she qualified for the widow's pension, she lost the carer's allowance even though she continued to be a full-time carer.

I have brought this anomaly to the attention of this Minister and the four previous Ministers. While the person being cared for in this case has passed on to his eternal reward, this anomaly should be corrected for future cases. In a reply to a parliamentary question, the Minister said there could not be many such cases and replies to other parliamentary questions stated that one could not receive two social welfare payments. There cannot be too many cases where a carer has lost the carer's allowance because her husband has died. This case involved a small farmer. Not only was this woman at a disadvantage because she lost her husband tragically, she had to employ somebody to do her meagre farm work as she was caring for her husband's relative full-time. She was penalised for the fact that her husband died. If he can, the Minister should eliminate this anomaly.

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