asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he is aware of the dissatisfaction expressed by recipients of supplementary welfare allowance in the Western Health Board area regarding the manner in which assessments are made; and if he will explain the criteria for deciding eligibility.

The basic aim of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme is to provide an allowance for any person whose means are insufficient to meet his needs. A basic weekly allowance is payable to a person whose means fall below a specified level and his means must be assessed for this purpose in accordance with the legislation. There is also provision for additional weekly payments to meet special needs such as rent, heating, or diet, for single payments in cases of exceptional need and for payment of grants in cases of urgency.

I am not aware of any general dissatisfaction with the manner in which assessments are made for supplementary welfare allowances in the Western Health Board area. If, however, the Deputy is aware of any cases where he considers that an incorrect assessment was made I will be glad to have the matter investiocrati gated by the health board on hearing from him.

Would the Minister accept that, where people have been transferred from the Department of Social Welfare to the Western Health Board for payment of benefit, there are instances where the payments are much lower from the health board than from the Department? That would suggest that, in the method of assessment by officers of the health board, the same guidelines are not being used in assessing the allowances payable to people who have to transfer from the Department to the Western Health Board for payment of benefit.

As the Deputy appreciates, it would depend on the reasons why they were transferred from social welfare to supplementary welfare allowance. As I said in my reply, I am not aware of any general dissatisfaction. My Department contacted the health board about this matter and no such cases have been brought to their attention. If the Deputy supplies us with details of the cases he has in mind we will have them examined and let him have a reply.

I can quote a number of instances. There is one in particular which comes to mind. A person was in receipt of unemployment assistance and because he had to go into hospital and have an operation he was transferred to the Western Health Board for payment. The allowance he received from the health board was 50 per cent of what he had been receiving from the Department. That is one instance where what I have been talking about comes to mind.

There would appear to be some difference in the method of assessment by the Western Health Board and one would assume that when a certain figure was already being paid by the Department a similar figure or almost similar would be paid by the Western Health Board.

If the Deputy will give me all the particulars of that particular case and any other cases he may have we could get the proper answer to his query.

I can give the details to the Minister but I got a similar reply yesterday in relation to other matters I raised by way of question. Will the Minister agree that we should not have to come in to the Minister or to his Department with matters of this kind? There seems to be some discrepancies in regard to the method of assessment.

The problem is the Deputy put down a question and every effort was made to supply the information. The questions asked if I were aware of the dissatisfaction. I was not aware of it until the Deputy put down his question. My Department contacted the Western Health Board to see what complaints they had received and our information from the health board is there appears to be no case in which the Deputy was involved. Every effort has been made to help the Deputy but I would require more specific information. The question does not provide it and the health board does not appear to have it and so I have nothing on which to go.