Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I took the time to peruse the online discussion forums for parents of children with special needs. I strongly advise any Deputy but, in particular, the Ministers to look at sites such as www.magicmum.com or www.rollercoaster.ie as well as the various Facebook pages, which show a level of confusion and fear about the reviews. If anything, I ask the Minister of State to take the time to clarify, as she has in regard to some of this, what the reviews are about. The level of fear evident among some of the domiciliary care allowance recipients is somewhat out of synch with the scale of the review-based control system. Nonetheless, I am not opposed to the reviews once they are fair, notice is given and only on completion is a decision made to end or confirm payment.

The fear is in some degree led by the unfairness and lack of transparency, and I ask the Minister of State to end the confusion. A substantial group of 24,000 people are in receipt of this payment but we have sent out mail shots to many more. I ask that a letter would go to each recipient informing him or her whether a review was recommended in the first instance by the medical officer who decided his or her case, given there will not be a review in many cases. If there is a review, the recipient should be informed whether it is a three year or five year review, or otherwise, and when the next review is scheduled to take place, which will give enough notice. Recipients should also receive advice on what supporting documentation they need to keep on an ongoing basis and what to have ready, and they should be encouraged to write a diary of the extra care needs of their child so they can present the full position. This would also facilitate the Department.

Given the level of fear that exists and the concerns people are raising, will the Minister meet the parent and carer's representatives so they can better articulate what I have tried to articulate today?

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