asked the Minister for Health if he is aware that the £25 per month home allowance for mentally handicapped people is totally inadequate; and the action he intends taking to increase the allowance.

I do not agree that the amount of this allowance is totally inadequate. It has not been possible, in the current year, to increase the amount of the allowance.

Would the Parliamentary Secretary agree that with inflation running somewhere in the region of 25 to 30 per cent this figure is derisory and would the Parliamentary Secretary tell the House when this sum of £25 per month was first introduced?

The allowance was introduced in October, 1973. I know it would be desirable to increase the amount but this allowance was never intended as a maintenance allowance. The £25 per month is a help.

Surely the philosophy behind the allowance is basically maintenance. Surely the aim is to enable the child to be maintained at home rather than in an institution. In that context it is possible to view it as a maintenance allowance. If the amount was introduced in October, 1973, at a figure of £25 per month would the Parliamentary Secretary not agree that three years later the amount might be increased by almost 50 per cent, if not 100 per cent, and can the Parliamentary Secretary not give any hope to those who are maintaining these people?

This allowance will be reviewed in September next.

There was no such allowance when Fianna Fáil were in power.

Order.

Just one final supplementary. When the Parliamentary Secretary says the allowance will be reviewed in September next does that mean the allowance will be increased? I assume the intention is to increase the allowance, assuming the Exchequer is not completely bare by that time.

The intention is to review it.