Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 11, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following: “Report on extending the provision of Disability Allowance to agents in case of bereavement of child

21.The Minister shall review the rule regarding the continuation of Disability Allowance payment where a person is the collecting agent for their child who passes away and prepare a report on extending payment of the payment for six weeks in these circumstances in line with the provision made for payments such as Domiciliary Care Allowance and that the report shall be presented to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Social Protection within 9 months of the enactment of this Act.”.

This came up a bit earlier. Disability allowance can be paid from the age of 16. The circumstances that are most likely to occur is that the spouse, cohabitant or child of somebody in receipt of a disability allowance can receive the payment from six weeks after the death of the payment while the claimant is receiving the payment themselves. However, in a very logical set of circumstances where a collecting agent is the person receiving it, who is very likely the spouse, cohabitant or parent, it can be extremely challenging for them to get payment thereafter. If the person was receiving it themselves, it passes relatively seamlessly for those six weeks to the parent, spouse or co-habitant. If an arrangement had been put in place prior to that whereby an agent collected it on their behalf, it seems to be extremely difficult for that agent to continue to get it for the subsequent six weeks.