Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will ensure that asylum seekers in direct provision are not subjected by their community welfare officers to a five days notice requirement to receive payments for travel to Dublin for legal appointments in view of the short deadlines applying within the asylum process. [3744/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off, exceptional and unforeseen expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. There is no automatic entitlement to a payment under this scheme. ENPs are payable at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case in order to ensure that the payments target those most in need of assistance. The Government has provided approximately €48 million for the scheme in 2013.

The timescale for determining and paying ENPs is dependent on a number of factors including the availability of all the required information and making arrangements for the issue of the payment. The Department is advised that this enquiry relates to the Waterford area. Officers in this area have confirmed that applications for assistance for travel in the circumstances outlined by the Deputy are generally processed within one to two days. Arrangement for the payment of the allowance, having regard to the immediacy of the situation, is determined by the officer administering the scheme.