John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister knows that people who get illness benefit are very ill. They include cancer patients and people with terminal illnesses. To not know from week to week what payment will come in, if it comes in at all, is a problem. While I appreciate that staff within the illness benefit section of the Department do tremendous work and certainly do not blame them, the new system that was rolled out to streamline and improve things has actually caused an unmitigated disaster. It has left an absolute mess in its wake. It has not succeeded. In previous discussions, the Minister has said the system was due to be extended to other social welfare payments. Does she still intend to roll the system out to other payments when there are still problems here? If it is rolled out, it will cause an unmitigated disaster.

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