Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 152: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the requirements of persons on disability payments to produce a general practitioner letter before they receive assistance from chief welfare officers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12615/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I understand that the Deputy's inquiry relates to people seeking assistance by way of exceptional needs payments provided through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, HSE. Exceptional needs payments can be made at the discretion of the HSE to assist with essential, once-off expenditure in exceptional circumstances. Each decision is based on consideration of the circumstances of the particular case, taking account of the nature and extent of the need and of the resources of the household concerned.

In cases where a person is seeking assistance relating to a medical condition it is open to the HSE to seek confirmation of the person's circumstances in the form of a letter or report from his or her general practitioner or other relevant qualified person, if it considers that necessary in order to determine eligibility.