Blind people to get €1.5m after error

HEALTH boards will have to pay blind people €1.5 million following an investigation by the Ombudsman.

Kevin Murphy received a complaint from a Dublin man who was in receipt of the blind welfare allowance last year claiming the South Western Area Health Board was not applying the rules of the scheme properly.

It emerged health boards all over the country were not applying the rules properly in 700 cases.

Now the Department of Health has agreed the health boards will pay moneys due to these people since January 2002. “This will amount to €1.5 million and will be repaid through the local health boards,” the department said.

While the maximum blind welfare allowance is just €35 a week, the amount each person gets varies as it is linked to other allowances.

The Ombudsman found that these rules were being applied incorrectly and this led to beneficiaries getting less than they were entitled to.

This is among the successful cases investigated by the Ombudsman which will be included in his 2002 annual report due to be published tomorrow.

Other cases successfully investigated were complaints by widows or widowers that they were not receiving the right amount of back tax from the Revenue Commissioners

This eventually led to a change in the law forcing the Revenue Commissioners to repay overpaid tax.