The Minister referred to the cost implications of allowing a married person to qualify to receive the prescribed relative allowance which, as Deputy Mitchell has said, is at present paid direct to the elderly relative. Can the Minister tell us whether a cost study has been undertaken to see whether it is proving more costly in both human and economic terms to institutionalise elderly relatives rather than paying the prescribed relative's allowance to married people? Would the Minister not agree that it would make greater sense to care for the elderly and the incapacitated within their own communities? I put it to the Minister that it would be cheaper in the long term to do so. Has any such cost study been carried out within the Minister's Department? I am aware of the Minister's commitment to community health.

Measures which are helpful to elderly people in the home will be considered in the context of the budget. These include home helps, public health nurses, social workers and meals on wheels as well as possible taxation benefits and off sets in the case of persons minding elderly relatives at home. The purpose of the prescribed relative allowance is to provide a measure of additional income maintenance to a pensioner towards the support of the relative who is looking after him or her in this way. It is in that sense akin to an increase in pension for an adult dependant except that the rate of the allowance is lower than the adult dependant allowance. Payment of this allowance is based on need and that is the basis for not paying the allowance to a married daughter where a pensioner is living with the family. The social welfare schemes are based on the criterion of providing income maintenance in situations of need.

I accept the point the Deputy has made. That is a matter for consideration in the context of the budget and of what further improvements can be made. I mention as an aside that the Commission on Social Welfare suggested that the whole area should be turned on its head and approached in a different way. Obviously, that is a matter which will have to be considered in any future consideration of this scheme.