Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When the community welfare service came into the Department, there was a review. The review was used as a basis for guidelines in 2012-2013. We will keep this scheme under review and look at it again to see whether it supports those it needs to support.

As I stated, it is important that the social welfare officers on the ground use their discretion in exceptional cases, such as those the Deputy mentioned. There are exceptional cases because 94,000 payments have issued to date in 2017 at a cost of €34 million. There is a major cost but no doubt it is important for those who are in dire straits. As I stated, if the Deputy has particular cases, he can bring them to the attention of the Minister.

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