Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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68. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the estimated additional cost in 2016 of reopening her Department's diet supplement scheme to new applicants from 1 January 2016. [25530/15]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Diet supplement, administered under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, is payable to some 4,500 qualifying persons, in receipt of the supplement prior to February 2014, who have been prescribed a special diet as a result of a specified medical condition.

During 2013, the Department commissioned the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute (INDI) to update their previous research on the costs of healthy eating and specialised diets. Pricing for a selection of foods based on branded and own label foods was surveyed in a sample of retail outlets for each diet. The research showed that the average costs across all of the retail outlets of the diets supplemented under the scheme could be met from within one third of the minimum personal rate of social welfare payment, i.e. the SWA rate of €186 per week. The scheme was discontinued on the basis of this evidence.

The additional cost of re-opening the scheme to new applicants would be determined by the numbers that may qualify for the support, their income and dietary requirements. The average payment under the scheme is currently approximately €42 per month.

Any changes in social welfare supports generally would have to be considered in a budgetary context.