Minister for Seniors and Volunteering Robyn McSweeney has called for patience today from Seniors Card holders set to receive the Government’s Cost of Living Rebate, as wide-ranging data system difficulties delay the distribution of payments.

The necessary re-build of the data system used to collect seniors information that was left in disarray by the previous Government, has been overhauled to accommodate the biggest single roll-out of payments the State has ever conducted.

“Unfortunately, technical problems resulted in more than acceptable levels of payment errors than Government is willing to accept,” Mrs McSweeney said.

“Until these errors are ironed out and the data system is able to correctly process payments to Seniors Card holders, I have asked they be temporarily placed on hold.

“This has been a difficult decision for Government as we are conscious of how much this money means to the quality of everyday living for our seniors.”

Pending the effective operation of the data system, payments would commence to 221,000 Seniors Card holders by the end of April.

“The Seniors Card Centre is also writing to people this week whose original application cannot be processed until correct details are received.”

“I urge seniors who receive this letter to provide their correct details so they can be paid the amount they are entitled to. The majority of errors we have seen so far include incorrect bank details with some applications not processed simply because of illegible handwriting.’’

“We expect any issues we’ve had with the new system be ironed out in readiness for next year’s payments where we will also seek to maintain a correct data-base of seniors payment information. The Government will be making this annual payment to seniors for the term of its Government.”