Committee Reports > List of Committees > Dáil > 1947 > Committee of Public Accounts > Report - Appropriation Accounts 1944 - 1945

APPENDIX VI.

GRANTS TOWARDS PROVISION OF SUPPLEMENTAL ALLOWANCES TO CERTAIN PENSIONERS AND BENEFICIARIES UNDER THE NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE ACTS

(a) Payment of Arrears.

The instructional circular letter notifying local authorities of the grants stated that the cases in which the supplementary allowances might be required and the actual amount of such allowance in each case should be determined after an investigation. After investigation of the case the public assistance authority determines whether an allowance is payable and if so the amount thereof. Arrears may be paid back to the time when the investigation was made or the eligibility for the allowance established. Arrears could not be paid in respect of any period prior to the investigation. Any such arrears would necessarily relate to a period when the recipient’s circumstances had not been considered by the public assistance authority and during which the recipient may not have been eligible for an allowance.

(b) Administration of Schemes by Local Authorities.

This grant was notified by an instructional circular which indicated that the allowances were to be made on a weekly basis. It was found that in some areas the payments were not made weekly. After attention had been called to the requirement of the circular letter as to weekly disbursements, representations were received from a number of local authorities and as a consequence it was agreed that payments might be made not less frequently than once a fortnight.

The only difference in the procedure or methods adopted by public assistance authorities that came to the notice of the Department was that referred to in the foregoing paragraph.

The existing public assistance machinery is availed of for the investigation of the circumstances of applicants for the allowances. The grant of the allowances is based on necessity, and the question of determining necessity is a matter for the public assistance authorities concerned. There is a possibility that public assistance authorities may have different views as to what constitutes necessity.