Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

It was I who raised this issue on Second Stage last week in regard to those who might have to go abroad for medical treatment for a child or to care for a sick relative or a relative who has had an accident. The Minister might indicate what is the timescale involved in the word "temporarily". In one case I know of, a family had to take their child abroad for four or five months to have treatment. In another case, which involved a primary payment and not a dependent adult, a carer went to Australia for four weeks to visit their children. The person took the caree with them and was still caring for the caree in Australia, but their carer's allowance was stopped while they were abroad. People get the payment for three weeks and it stops after that, no matter how long a person stays.

I would like the Minister to give us some indication on this. There are occasions when people really and truly have to go, and they cannot determine how long they will be gone for. If a person is going to care for somebody who is terminally ill with cancer, it cannot be determined whether the person will die after three weeks, four weeks or five weeks, and they cannot tell the social welfare officers exactly how long it will be. Can we have some indication of what time period "temporarily" involves?