Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 169: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on allowing people on disability allowance to have some extended periods abroad while maintaining their entitlement to disability allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16057/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The legislation governing entitlement to Disability Allowance currently provides that a person shall be disqualified from receipt of the allowance while she or he is resident, whether temporarily of permanently, outside the State. This is a standard provision in legislation and applies equally to a range of other schemes operated by the Department.

Exceptionally, Disability Allowance may continue to be paid where the claimant is resident away from the State and pursuing an approved second or third level course of education under the Back to Education Allowance Scheme or while receiving medical treatment which is not available in the State and where the person concerned has been referred for treatment by the HSE under the National Treatment Purchase Fund.

It is intended to introduce changes governing the scheme in order to provide formally for such exceptions. The Deputy will appreciate that it would be imprudent to introduce open-ended provisions in this area, but if he has specific proposals in this regard, they can be taken into consideration in the course of the preparation of the planned legislative changes.