Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 378: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of people who applied for and were refused an allowance for diet supplement for the past five years; the number of people who are in receipt of a diet supplement during 2005 and the amount of money spent by his Department on same to date in 2005; and the number of people who applied for and were refused a diet allowance to date in 2005. [34404/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Diet supplements are provided through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Statistics on the number of diet supplement applications and the number of diet supplements refused are not maintained by the HSE or on my Department's computer systems. Expenditure on diet supplement in 2005 to date is €5.4 million. Details of the current number of recipients and the number of recipients of diet supplements in the previous five years are shown in the following table: