Mr. R?n?n Hession:

However, that is an important part. In other words, the disability report is also trying to give a sense that the cost of disability is a real thing and it is significant. It is not a marginal cost. However, there are wider inclusions perhaps being involved that probably overstate how far the analysis goes in terms of unmet costs.

On the Deputy's point about 16- to 18-year-olds, this is a really important issue. I know the Deputy has been around this space for a long time and he will know it has been raised before. We did a very detailed consultation under the Make Work Pay for People with Disabilities report where we went to workshops and engaged with disabled people and their families to try to get a view on it. What we found is that approximately half of the people we engaged with who were surveyed thought the age should move from the age of 16 to 18, approximately one quarter said that it should not and one quarter were not sure. There will, therefore, be differences of view. I will say for the purpose of the consultation, and so people can form a view on it before giving us their submissions, that the intention behind it is not cost saving. It is not about saying that because, obviously, disability allowance is a higher payment than domiciliary care allowance, DCA. The issue is that all our other working-age payments are for those aged 18. It is a historical issue really that the payment age of 16 is what we inherited into the Department. It was at 16 years of age and it stayed there. However, it means that a person can be on the payment for two or three years before we can even engage with them if they are still in education. Concerns have been raised with us about 16 being the age at which a person can get €220. Some families will experience problems with that. However, there is a cost differential. The Green Paper states that we acknowledge the cost issue of money going into the household and that there is kind of a transition where people who are aged 15 or 16 will still get the payment or something like that. Again, we can draw that line wherever we like, but it is just a suggestion. The idea would be that for the next few years, we would keep the current system so that people can see the change coming for a few years. It is not going to kick in immediately. Perhaps those who are aged 14 at the moment would face a starting age of 18 for disability allowance or something like that. That is where the line is. We have an open view on that. Primarily, the principle is that we think it would be a better outcome for the people concerned and it would be more coherent as an overall approach to have it starting at the age of 18.

The Deputy mentioned the migration and what we would learn from the refusals data on medical grounds. I will ask Dr. Singh to come in on that in a second. What I would say, and we discussed it with this committee previously, is that our experience has been that when people apply for disability allowance, to bank the date of the claim, which, if they are successful, will be backdated to the date they applied, they apply as soon as they can. However, often in cases where there are refusals, we find that when we go back and say there is not enough evidence for a person's claim, the person will then go back and get additional doctors' reports or whatever is needed. They will then be successful in their claim.