Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 156: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason there is a delay in the processing of the rent allowance application by a person (details supplied) in Dublin 24. [22923/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which includes rent supplement, is administered on my behalf by the Community Welfare Division of the Health Service Executive. Neither I nor my Department has any function in relation to decisions on individual claims. The Executive has advised that a rent supplement application was received from the person concerned on 6th October 2005 but it has been unable to determine his entitlement to a payment, as it did not receive sufficient documentation from the person concerned. The Executive has further advised that an appeal in relation to the rent supplement application was received from the person concerned on 29th May 2006 but that no decision has been made on the case to date. When a decision has been made on the appeal the person concerned will be notified directly.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 157: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of people who are awaiting a decision on claims they have made for disability allowance. [22928/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The number of Disability Allowance claims awaiting decision was 4,443 on 2nd June 2006. In addition 198 decisions made on disability allowance claims were in the course of being notified to the applicants concerned on that date. To put those data in perspective, just over 20,000 claims were received in 2005, while almost 7,700 claims were received in the first five months of 2006.

Entitlement to Disability Allowance is contingent on the applicant satisfying both medical and means conditions. There is an unavoidable time lag involved in making the necessary investigations and enquiries to ensure timely and accurate decisions. Once entitlement is decided the claim is put into payment and any arrears issue shortly afterwards.

John Cregan (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 158: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the child dependant allowances which apply to various social welfare schemes for example widows, invalidity, disability benefit, unemployment benefit and so on; when these were last adjusted; the reason they stopped increasing; if a study has taken place in relation to the effects of this policy on poverty, as child benefit or children's allowance, which has been the chosen vehicle in recent years, is paid to rich and poor; if he will reconsider his present policy and start child dependent increase in the next budget; the social welfare rates when they were last increased; the current rates; the percentage increase since then; the percentage increase in inflation since then; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22933/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Child dependant allowances are paid in addition to weekly social welfare payments in respect of over 256,700 children at full rate and almost 84,500 at half rate. The rate of child dependant allowance was last increased in 1994. The current rates of payment are EUR16.80, EUR19.30 and EUR21.60. The following appendix shows the rates of child dependant allowance for each scheme.

The policy direction followed by successive Governments has been to concentrate resources for child income support on the child benefit scheme rather than child dependant allowances, as the loss of child dependant allowances by social welfare recipients on taking up employment can act as a disincentive to availing of work opportunities.

Over the period since 1994, the monthly rates of child benefit have increased by EUR124.61 at the lower rate and EUR155.80 at the higher rate, increases of 390.7% and 433.5% respectively, while inflation increased by 42%. Over the same period the personal rate of the lowest weekly social welfare payment has increased from EUR78.79 to EUR165.80, an increase of110.4%. From April 2006, child benefit rates are EUR150 per month for each of the first two children and EUR185 per month for the third and each subsequent child. At the end of May 2006 child benefit was in payment to over 556,000 families in respect of approximately 1,076,000 children.

In addition, my Department provides cash support by way of weekly payments to families at work on low pay, through the family income supplement scheme. A number of improvements have been made to the scheme over the years, including assessment of entitlement on the basis of net rather than gross income and progressive increases in the income thresholds, making it easier for lower income households and larger families to qualify for payment. As a result, there are currently 18,647 families receiving a weekly FIS payment, reaching approximately 35,000 children.

Over the last decade, some 250,000 people (including 100,000 children) have been lifted out of poverty. Child poverty is clearly a complex area requiring coordinated action across a range of government services and income support payments and the Government is committed to taking further appropriate measures to address this issue.

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 159: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he will review the plight of the 275 workers at a plant (details supplied) in County Mayo where due to current market trends are working either one, two or maybe three days a week; his views on whether during this time these employees should be allowed to sign on; if there is an alternative payment available to these workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22957/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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To qualify for unemployment payments a person must have lost employment and must satisfy the conditions of being available for and genuinely seeking work. Subject to certain conditions it is possible for a person to qualify for payment for part of a week while being employed for the rest of the week. Special arrangements exist in relation to systematic short-time working where this occurs in a particular employment and the company concerned are at present availing of these arrangements. I am not aware of any particular difficulty in this regard in relation to the workers concerned. If the Deputy is aware of any such difficulties, I will have the matter further examined.