Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this Topical Issue matter. I will use an individual case, but I will not say the woman's full name. I am raising the case on behalf of a person to highlight the issue I have, which is about the limitations of the supplementary welfare allowance and the manner in which it is applied. It often seems that a decision is made by the Department of Social Protection that a scheme will be put in place to respond to a need, but the scheme is then not changed and not adapted. I will illustrate my point with an example.

I am raising this issue on behalf of a woman by the name of Diane. She has survived cancer twice and during that time the mortgage on her apartment was, unbeknownst to her - let us be fair; she had a lot going on - sold to a well known vulture fund. She was struggling to repay her mortgage. A payment plan of €597 per month was agreed. She was in receipt of the other supplement, the former mortgage interest supplement, which meant she was able to keep a roof over her head. Diane has been under a lot of financial pressure on top of the fact that she is very unwell. One thing is feeding the other. The financial pressure is feeding the ill health, etc. On 17 June 2025 she received a letter from the Department of Social Protection telling her she is to be excluded from receipt of the supplement because the arrears outstanding on the loan are of such magnitude that the payment of a supplement is considered inappropriate. This puts her in a very precarious and scary place, as I am sure the Minister of State will agree. The woman is gravely ill. She has to have equipment fitted in her house and now she is in danger of losing the house.

I used this as an example because we are in the middle of a housing crisis. If this were 25 years ago, the Minister of State might say it is tough, but she will have to rent and there is support available for that and so on. However, the truth is that there is nowhere for her to rent. She is too sick to go into emergency accommodation. I do not know whether the Minister of State has seen it. This is with no disrespect to the people who work in it, because I am sure they are doing their best, but you would not want to be in it in the whole of your health, never mind gravely ill.

I have engaged with the Department of Social Protection on her behalf. The response I got is that she can appeal the decision. The Minister of State and I both know what the result of the appeal will be. I understand she will tell me she cannot pre-empt it and I do not want to either, but I have a feeling the appeal will go the same way as the application because the grounds on which it was refused still stand. This is the scheme of last resort, if you will. This is where people go when they have been everywhere else. There are currently 26,000 people in mortgage arrears. Some of them have a mortgage that has been sold to a vulture fund, others do not. Illnesses and personal circumstances are a really big push factor in people going into long-term arrears. Everyone deserves to stay in their home. This example is somewhat of an outlier, but it illustrates the fact that the supplementary welfare allowance is not adequate for the demands being made on it at the moment. It has not kept pace with what is happening currently and it is not fit for purpose in the housing crisis we are in at the moment.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Deputy will recognise that I am taking this on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I hope she will recognise that I cannot answer on a specific individual. It is not because it is not important. It is. It is absolutely crucial and I would never say in response that it is tough. However, it is a specific case and will have to be dealt with in that way. The only answer I can provide is more generalised. However, if the Deputy would like me to speak to the Minister, I would be happy to do so.

To come back to the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, as the Deputy said, it is the scheme of last resort, the safety net in the overall social welfare system. It provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependents. Supports under the scheme can include a basic weekly payment, rent supplement, other weekly or monthly supplements in respect of certain expenses or additional needs payments. The basic supplementary welfare allowance provides immediate assistance for those in need who are awaiting the outcome of a claim or an appeal for a primary social welfare payment or who do not qualify for a payment under other State schemes. Basic supplementary welfare allowance is paid at rates up to €242 per week with increases for adult and child dependents. Currently, there are approximately 11,000 recipients of the payment.

Rent supplement provides short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. There are approximately 6,600 recipients of this supplement. An additional ongoing supplement may also be provided to help with ongoing needs, including for heat, travel and other ongoing costs. The Department of Social Protection may also make additional needs payments to help to meet essential expenses people cannot pay from their weekly income or other personal and household resources. This payment is available to anyone who needs it and qualifies for it, whether that person is currently receiving a social welfare payment or working with a low income.

Approximately, 83,000 additional needs payment were issued in 2024. Payments are made at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme, taking into account the requirements of the legislation. The community welfare service in the Department administers the supplementary welfare allowance schemes and can enable a flexible approach to meet the income needs of vulnerable individuals and families. The community welfare service is committed to providing a quality service to all citizens, ensuring applications are processed and decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible. Where a person has an urgent or immediate need, every effort is made to ensure the claim is processed on the same day. Community welfare officers are very experienced and can generally assess when a case is so urgent that it requires an immediate response.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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I appreciate that the Minister of State is here. She listed the qualities of the scheme, including flexibility and so forth. However, here is the thing: ESB Networks considers Diane to be a vulnerable customer. It has put her in the category of a person who should not have her electricity cut off because she is a vulnerable customer and person, not due to any wrongdoing on her part. It is because she is sick. She has not done anything wrong. Some 16,000 people are homeless. She does not want to have to join them. However, it seems that the scheme is not fit for purpose if it is not able to encompass people who have a need of that nature. If it is the case that she cannot pay her mortgage, we both know what the consequences will be. The State will have to examine emergency accommodation. I can tell the Minister of State now that her health needs are such that emergency accommodation would not be appropriate for her. She is not eligible to go onto the social housing list because she currently owns a home. The point I am making is that there are lived realities for people. This is the scheme of last resort, and this is her last resort. The first thing she did was not to pick up the phone to me. She has tried everything.

It is not the case that she has just simply picked up the phone. She has been trying to fight this herself but it is really hard.

I will send the details to the Minister's office but I also ask that the Minister of State would raise with the Minister for Social Protection the need for not just flexibility but responsiveness to the lived reality of people.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy, and I can hear that this is an issue of real concern for her and the people involved. I thank her for raising the matter. I wish to assure the Deputy that the supplementary welfare allowance scheme is kept under review. The issue is to ensure it continues to support those most in need of assistance.

The delivery of crucial community welfare services to meet the challenges and needs of citizens across the country remains a priority for the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and his Department. As I said, I will bring this specific issue to his attention because it is important that the community welfare service remains an accessible, flexible and responsive service to meet the varied needs of vulnerable people, particularly in a time of crisis or emergency. I think that is what the Deputy is speaking of here this evening.

The Department of Social Protection is committed to a community welfare service that remains flexible to meet the varied needs of vulnerable people and the current availability of local access to a community welfare officer is a key feature of the service. Community welfare officers are available at over 50 Intreo centres nationwide. Consultations with community welfare officers can be arranged via phone or at their offices or a direct home visit can be facilitated depending on the customer's needs.

As I have already mentioned, the scheme is there to provide immediate and flexible assistance to those in need. Officers within the service are very experienced in assessing the needs of each applicant and providing the relevant payment for their specific needs. Any person who considers he or she may have an entitlement to supplementary welfare allowance is encouraged to contact their local community welfare service. There is a national community welfare contact centre in place. I have the phone number here, but it is easy to find, and that will direct callers to the appropriate office. It is 0818 607 080.

If the Deputy has any particular cases, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, invites her to share those details with his office.