Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I understand what happened. What I do not understand is the rationale for why it happened. There could be two couples living next door to each, number 3 and number 4 on Connolly or Pearse Road or whatever you want to call it. Those two elderly people could have individual payments and their neighbours, one as an adult dependant, and neither would have ever anticipated they might lose out on a payment such as this because they applied for that payment. There is a great deal of shock about this for those families and individuals who are affected. They came to expect the payment. Perhaps the Minister will say if this is not the case, but as I understand it, her Department was initially going to pay it to dependants also. Will the Minister make a comment on that? I do not believe it is too late. Will she look at this now and consider extending the payment to adult dependants? It is the right thing to do, it is not too late, and people are under enormous pressure. This €200 was expected. People had it allocated to a particular bill or set of shopping. They should get it too.

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