Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 157: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if medication will be free to children suffering from ADHD who qualify for domiciliary care allowance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14512/06]

Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)
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Different eligibility criteria govern the supply of medication without charge and the domiciliary care allowance respectively. Under the 1970 Health Act, the Health Service Executive may arrange for the supply, without charge, of drugs, medicines and medical and surgical appliances to people with a specified condition, for the treatment of that condition, through the long-term illness scheme. The conditions include mental handicap, mental illness, for people under 16 only, phenylketonuria, cystic fibrosis, spina bifida, hydrocephalus, diabetes mellitus, diabetes insipidus, haemophilia, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophies, parkinsonism, conditions arising from thalidomide and acute leukaemia. Products which are necessary for the management of the specified illness are available to the scheme's patients. Other products are available according to the patient's eligibility.

People who cannot, without undue hardship, arrange for the provision of medical services for themselves and their dependants may be entitled to a medical card. In the assessment process the Health Service Executive can take into account medical costs incurred by an individual or a family. Non-medical card holders and people whose illness is not covered by the long-term illness scheme can use the drug payment scheme, which protects against excessive medicines costs. Under this scheme, no individual or family unit pays more than €85 per calendar month, or approximately €20 per week, towards the cost of approved prescribed medicines. The scheme is easy to use and significantly reduces the cost burden for families and individuals incurring ongoing expenditure on medicines. In addition, non-reimbursed medical expenses above a set threshold may be offset against tax.

Domiciliary care allowance is a monthly allowance administered by the Health Service Executive and may be paid in respect of eligible children from birth to the age of 16 who have a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention which is substantially in excess of that normally required by a child of the same age. Eligibility is determined primarily by reference to the degree of additional care and attention required by the child rather than to the type of disability involved, subject to a means test.

Only personal means of the child are taken into account. The means of the parents are not considered. It is a matter for the senior area medical officer or other designated medical officer in the relevant community care area to decide whether a child qualifies for domiciliary care allowance.