Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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1252.To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of applications for an urgent needs payment in Limerick, by reason, in 2021, 2022, 2023 and to date in 2024, in tabular form. [31352/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, my Department may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income. This is an overarching term used to refer to Exceptional and Urgent Needs Payments, and certain supplements to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from the customer’s own resources, and which are deemed to be necessary. Urgent Needs Payments make up only a small percentage of the payments made under the Additional Needs Payment scheme, and the figures provided refer to those payments only.

The 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.

Table 1 shows the number of Urgent Needs Payments applications in County Limerick for 2022 to 2024 (end of Q2). Urgent Needs Payments are not classified by a reason. The reporting of the scheme was revised in 2022 to extract more complete information. Statistics on the number of Additional Needs Payments applications received are not available for 2021, however there were 14 Urgent Needs Payments awarded in that year.

Any person who considers they may have an entitlement to an additional needs payment is encouraged to contact their local community welfare service. There is a National Community Welfare Contact Centre in place - 0818-607080 - which will direct callers to the appropriate office.

Table 1 - The number of Urgent Needs Payments applications in County Limerick, 2022 to 2024 (end of Q2)