Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If the Department does indeed recognise the need for a transition period during which people can grieve and plan a life following the death of a family member, then this anomaly should be fixed. It can be fixed easily and I have sent the amendment to the Minister. I would appreciate it if, in her response, the Minister would confirm whether she believes this is an anomaly. What is the difference between a 14- or 15-year-old child with a disability, who is in receipt of domiciliary care allowance and who passes away and a child who is 16, 17, or 18 years old and in receipt of disability allowance? Whether that payment continues should not be dependent on age, the payment the person is receiving or whether a wife, spouse, partner, son or daughter is accepting the payment. That makes no sense. It should not be the case.

The Minister referred to the letter that was sent by the Department. I acknowledge what she has said. That is fine. To be honest, I was not going to raise the matter of the letter. I did so only to give a bit of context because that is how this all came about. It is how this anomaly was exposed in the first place. The wider issue here is not the letter. The issue is the fact that disability allowance should be treated in the same way as domiciliary care allowance when a child who is in the care of a parent at home and is in receipt of disability allowance passes away. That is an anomaly. If that anomaly were fixed, there would be no letters and the issue would not arise. The issue is not so much the letter, albeit the Minister is right that communication needs to be considered. I find it hard to believe the Department in certain circumstances may not be aware of who the collecting agent is and what his or her relationship is with the person involved because the Department knows a lot of things. Even if the names of the collecting agent and the child are not the same, I find it difficult to understand that the Department would not know the agent who is collecting a payment from the Department of Social Protection or what their relationship is to the eligible person. I find that hard to believe. Will the Minister accept this is an anomaly? Will she consider the amendment I have proposed? Will she please make this happen?

See this speech in context