Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will reiterate what I said. If somebody has become resident in Ireland and they then leave the country for extended periods of time, it is hard to justify why we should continue to pay qualified adult social welfare payments. However, if somebody is going for some kind of family issue or family emergency, such as a funeral or illness in the family, that is an entirely different issue. The deciding officers have the power to exercise discretion. Very often, in such cases of hardship, as I am sure Members know, the community welfare officer assists people and the actual practice in social welfare offices is to be extremely understanding.

With regard to somebody who is lawfully in custody, again, it is very difficult to justify double payments because the State is at a considerably higher expense than a weekly social welfare payment in looking after the needs of that person and, of course-----