asked the Minister for Social Welfare if she will now make the financing of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme a national charge in view of the serious effects that its funding is having on local authorities.

As part of the commitment in the Programme for Government, I am reviewing the operation of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The financing of the scheme will be part of the review.

What is the estimated total expenditure on supplementary welfare allowance in 1981.

The original estimate was £15.563 million.

What is the estimated total amount of money now owed by various local authorities to health boards on foot of this scheme?

As I indicated yesterday in answer to a similar question, that figure is not available at the moment. We will make it available to the Deputy as soon as it is.

I have one final supplementary. Would the Minister of State regard as desirable the continuation of the ridiculous situation that pertains now as far as social welfare allowance funding is concerned where you have a scheme initiated by the Department of Social Welfare, regulations as to the amount of benefit to be paid taken without consultation with anybody, the health boards authorised to implement the scheme and they subsequently having to get funding of it from the local authorities? Would the Minister regard that as a desirable and acceptable form of dealing with supplementary welfare allowances?

The Minister clearly is so unhappy with the situation that she has undertaken a complete commitment to a radical review of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The financing of that will be a part of the review. I trust that in the last years the Deputy was as enthusiastic in his criticism of the scheme. If he was, why was it not advanced much earlier than this?

By way of clarification for the Minister of State at the Department of Social Welfare I would point out to her that anything worthwhile ever done by way of supplementary welfare allowances was done by Fianna Fáil. Is she aware that health boards in this country at this time are incurring overdrafts to accommodate money owed to them by local authorities? What does she propose doing about it besides suggesting to me that we should have done something?

I indicated yesterday in answer to a similar question that meetings are taking place with the chief executives of the health boards to discuss their current difficulties and that the matter is getting serious consideration now.

Is a committee being set up to deal with this? It will add further to the set of commissions.

Ceist 14.

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