Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I concur with the sentiments expressed by the previous speakers. Appeals, supplementary welfare and qualification criteria for payments, whether they be supplementary welfare payments or social welfare payments, are sensitive areas. We must remember that circumstances are vastly different from two or three years ago. Many people are between a rock and a hard place and find themselves in a desperate situation.

In recent days I dealt with the case of a person who had been made redundant due to the recession. The person concerned has a mortgage and all the responsibilities that go with it. He signed on and was paid unemployment assistance. He forgot to sign on a month later, as has happened in more than one case, and, unfortunately, he gave the wrong answers in a questionnaire and payment was terminated completely. When I met the person concerned, he was desperate, very emotional and needed help urgently. I tabled the usual parliamentary question, which from past experience we know is usually accepted as an appeal in this type of case. I was given a long lecture about the procedure that has to be gone through. It is too late for that long procedure. In the difficult situation in which we find ourselves, especially when people feel under stress and are likely to become more stressed, it is important that the agents of the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Health Service Executive recognise that and apply it in how they deal with cases.

Another example that is relevant to the amendment is the case of a woman and her husband who have a mortgage. He turned out to have an addiction problem and ended up in prison, leaving a substantial mortgage to be paid, which goes to show what our society is like at present. The issue affects everybody, right across the spectrum. The result is that the woman in question gets only half the usual mortgage support because her husband who is now incarcerated has an interest in the house. The theory is that it would be wrong for the State to support any part of his interests. What difference does it make? After all, if she loses the house the State will have to support her interests and his interests at a later stage because we do not know what will be the outcome. There is no necessity to go that route at all. There is a tendency to apply the poor law attitude at present.

That stems from a fear in the Department that it will run out of money before the end of the year. The Estimate for the Department of Social and Family Affairs is dramatically short of what will be required, and this will become manifest over the coming year.

I support the points made by all the other speakers. It is critical that the Minister consider our points and ask that the officials at the coalface dealing with the kinds of individuals described do so sensitively. The festive season can be a time of relief or despair and we need to be very careful not to allow despair to prevail at this time.

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