James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)

Like many Members of this House, I speak not only as a public representative but as a former councillor and as a parent of three young children. I regularly meet parents of children with disabilities. What they tell me is clear; the system is not working for them. The programme for Government commits to progressively increasing the domiciliary care allowance, DCA, and to phasing out the means test for carer's allowance. As the Taoiseach knows, the DCA is a non-means-tested payment of €360 per month for children under 16 with significant additional care needs. It comes with a medical card and a €2,000 annual carer's support grant. However, here is the reality. Figures I obtained through parliamentary questions show that between 2020 and 2024, more than 52,000 families applied for the allowance. One in three was refused. Yet, of those who appealed, 60% were successful. In the most extreme cases, 67 families took the State to the High Court and in every resolved case, they won that case. This is not a fair process. It is a system that forces families already under pressure, to fight for what they are entitled to.

The recent ESRI study, published ahead of the economic dialogue, found that disability-related costs absorb from 52% to 59% of disposable income. This rises to more than 93% in cases of what the ESRI terms, "severe disability." Research by AsIAm shows that parents of autistic children face costs of between €10,000 to €28,000 per year.

I acknowledge that there has been progress. The Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee, has committed to expanding the educational therapy support service, which is being piloted in 75 schools, into both special and mainstream schools nationwide. This kind of wraparound support is crucial, but it is being undermined by the battles parents still face, not just in service delivery from our child disability network teams, CDNT, but in simply accessing a payment that has existed for decades, a payment where the legal test has not changed, despite a significant rise in the number of children with additional needs.

We do not even collect data on families who give up. These are parents who cannot face the appeals process because they do not have the time, resources or energy to instruct a solicitor or go to court. I suspect that many of them would have been successful too, but we will never know.

Does the Taoiseach agree with me that we need a full review and reform of the DCA? I do not believe that one in three families is applying for something that they simply do not need. I believe that too many are losing out because the system is asking them to fight, rather than supporting them. Does the Taoiseach agree with me that these families deserve better?

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