David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 6:

In page 3, before section 1, to insert the following new section:

"1. The Minister for Social and Family Affairs shall, within 3 months of the commencement of this Act, lay before each House of the Oireachtas, a report on the numbers of eligible persons and proportion thereof availing of the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance, among low income families."

I will not dwell on this amendment because we have already debated the issue. I want to table it because of the number of people availing of back to school clothing and footwear. The Minister stated this morning that he would look at the idea of allowing people to avail of the allowance later in the year. I suggest that people be allowed to avail of it until the end of November. For various reasons, some people fall through the net, do not collect the allowance and only find out about it at the end of October when it is too late. We want to reach out and help these people who should be getting this allowance but often find out about when it is too late.

Perhaps the Minister can tell me what is required. Is it just some stroke of a pen or does it require a regulation or legislation? How can we extend this for two months? Would it cost anything extra, other than the payments people would receive, to which they are entitled anyway? This is a practical problem that I have come across with my constituents time and again. The Minister should at least extend the deadline to the end of November and we can see what happens.

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