David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 368: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if assistance is available to persons with diabetes who have to incur extra expenses by being on special diets; if he has given consideration to extending the diet supplements administered by his Department to include such persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4956/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Any person who is receiving a Social Welfare or Health Service Executive payment and who has been prescribed a special diet as a result of a specified medical condition, and whose means are insufficient to meet his/her needs, may qualify for a diet supplement under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The amount of diet supplement payable in individual cases is calculated by assessing one-third (single people) or one-sixth (couples) of the applicant's weekly income against the cost of the relevant diet.

Revised diet supplements arrangements were introduced in April 2006 and subsequently updated in January 2007. These revised arrangements reflected the findings of a study commissioned from the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute (INDI) in 2006 on healthy eating. The objective is that all social welfare recipients, including those with special dietary needs, should be able to purchase an appropriate diet at a cost of no more than one third of their income. However, under the revised arrangements, diabetes is not classified as a prescribed diet but rather comes within a healthy eating diet which every person can meet from one third of their basic payment.

Current diet supplement regulations prescribe the following specialised diets, (as recommended by INDI):

1. Low-lactose, milk-free

2. Gluten-free

3. High-protein, high calorie

4. Altered consistency (liquidised)

The healthy eating study is being updated in the light of changing prices and ongoing research on nutritional issues. One of the key findings emerging in this update is that a balanced healthy eating diet can be purchased for between 18% and 30% of a person's social welfare payment. I am mindful to ensure that people on low incomes generally can afford a healthy eating diet even when they have not been prescribed a specialised diet. The policy of providing substantial real increases in primary social welfare and assistance payment rates will help to achieve this by ensuring that healthy food is now more affordable for people relying on social welfare payments.