Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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163. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if there is a special allowance for a person to purchase assistive technology (details supplied) for a child's secondary education outside of the back-to-school allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11201/15]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The back to school clothing and footwear allowance (BSCFA) scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs of clothing and footwear when children start school each autumn. The Government has provided €44.3 million for this scheme in 2015.

Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off and unforeseen expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. The Government has provided €29 million for the ENP scheme in 2015.

ENP's 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. There is no automatic entitlement to a payment.

The ENP scheme is not intended to cover circumstances where responsibility for the payment or the expenditure rests with another Government Department or Agency. The Department of Education and Skills operates a scheme of grants towards the purchase of essential assistive technology equipment for pupils with physical or communicative disabilities. The person concerned is advised to contact the Department of Education and Skills in relation to this matter.