Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If somebody has an urgent need they will be seen as a matter of urgency and immediately.

In some cases, a same-day or next-day payment can be provided. Only a few months ago, the Deputy asked me about the fall-off in these payments. At that stage, she said we were not doing enough to promote the payments and that not enough people knew about. It is sort of the opposite now. The Deputy is telling me that too many people are applying and that we cannot keep up. Just to be clear, I want people who need these payments to get them because that is what they are there for. Earlier this year, I made a number of changes to try to simplify the process and make it easier for people. We set up a national helpline phone number. We developed new income guidelines aligned with those of the working family payment and put them on our website. We got rid of the 30-hour rule and ran two major public awareness campaigns. There were radio and social media adverts constantly airing to raise awareness and get the message out, which I am sure the Deputy heard. That campaign and those changes have had the effect we wanted. More people are aware of the payment and more are applying. That is what we are here to do; we are here to help.

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