Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

In January I welcomed the Ministers intention to review the domiciliary care allowance - nobody has a problem with a review. Will the Minister commit that the advisory group on tax and social welfare will consult with the carers association and parents organisations on the domiciliary care allowance? Most people are not aware that the group that is reviewing whether to cut the disability allowance is also reviewing the domiciliary care allowance. While nobody has a problem with reviews, the problem is that 21 days is insufficient to get the professional letters that are required. I ask the Minister to instruct the Department to automatically notify the parents in receipt of domiciliary care allowance in advance of the review so that they have a number of months, given that it can take up to six months to get the professional documentation required.

Has there been an increase in the number of individual reviews of these cases? It is causing distress to a number of people who have been in contact with me and other Deputies. These are parents of children with lifelong debilitating disabilities with no chance of the condition improving in the future.

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