Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I recall the Deputy’s interest in that particular case. Unfortunately, the purpose of the carer’s allowance is to provide income support for a named individual who is a full-time carer. Although I understand the point made by the Deputy, it is not technically possible to swap the allowance when a different individual takes over the role of carer. I accept that the circumstances in the same family could be similar, but a different individual is in question. We will examine the matter.

With regard to emergency situations, because of all the work that has been done to improve the processing procedures, the situation should have improved significantly. With regard to the question of presenting the appropriate information at the start of the process, my Department spends approximately €47 million on the annual budget of Citizens' Information and MABS, which, as Deputies are aware, provide much advice to people making applications and appeals. We fund the Irish Congress of Trade Unions information centres around the country at a cost of several million. We also fund the Northside Community Law Centre and, in addition, we fund many community employment schemes which have a social welfare information element. We probably need to examine the situation to see whether we can improve it to ensure that what the Deputy describes as urgent cases, which perhaps stand out because of the gravity of the illnesses involved, can be fast-tracked.

On the broader question of applications that are simply incomplete, some systems do not allow incomplete applications. Where people make repeated applications, this is one of the reasons that, with the explosion in numbers, urgent cases can end up stuck alongside people who resubmit evidence numerous times.

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