Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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320. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of applications for exceptional needs payments received by his Department in each of the past 12 months to date; the number approved; the number refused; the number pending; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36298/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, my 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 €30.3 million for the ENP scheme in 2016.

The ENP scheme is demand led and payments are made 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.

Statistics are collated relating to payments under the ENP scheme, however they are not maintained on the number of applications or the outcome of those applications. Some 90,500 ENP payments have issued over the past 12 month period and a monthly breakdown of these cases is provided in the tabular statement. For reporting purposes this data also includes the numbers of urgent needs payments (UNP). A UNP is a once-off payment made to persons who would not normally qualify for SWA but who have an urgent need which they cannot meet from their own resources or an alternative is not available at that time.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Number of Exceptional Needs Payments and Urgent Needs Payments in each month for the past twelve months to October 2016: