Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 254: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if social welfare or alternative payment will be arranged for a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21413/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Responsibility forhomeless persons under 18 years of age lies with the Health Service Executive under the Child Care Act, 1991. While supplementary welfare allowance is not generally paid to persons under 18 years, payment may be made to young people who have left home for valid reasons and who are not being maintained by their family but who have the ability to live independently and where intervention under the Child Care Act is not considered appropriate or necessary.

The Health Service Executive has advised that it has allowed payment of a basic supplementary welfare allowance to the person concerned in this case on an interim basis pending a decision by the social worker on her domestic status.