Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats)

I move amendment No 15:

In page 8, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following: “(2) Where a survivor living abroad receives the once off health support payment, it shall not count as income for the purposes of means tested benefits or entitlements in the country where the survivor resides.”.

This amendment relates to the many survivors who, as Senator Boyhan discussed, may be living in the UK, other parts of Europe, North America or the world who were victims and survivors of the institutional abuse in Ireland. It relates to them being eligible to receive these supports but makes sure that when they do receive the supports in the place or jurisdiction they are living, they are not impacted by means-testing or that the €3,000 grant is not affected by entitlements or other allowances from the state in which they are living.Without that protection, survivors living abroad, many of whom are elderly and on lower or fixed incomes, may face a lose-lose scenario of having to choose between accessing this support payment and losing their existing social benefits. It is not fair to put survivors in the position of having to make that choice.

While I recognise it may not be within the Minister's jurisdiction per seto decide what any other state must do, it might be within her power to engage with her counterparts on this issue, specifically in the UK, with which we have the closest relationship and where there is wide recognition of the issues. The legislation known as Philomena's law is going through Westminster at the moment and has the backing of 100 MPs. It seeks to ensure that UK-based survivors of the Irish system who receive compensation from this State will not be impacted in terms of means testing for UK benefits schemes. I would like to see that provision applied to this Bill.