Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 176: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the payments due to the parents of a child under the early child care supplement scheme at the time of birth under the rules pertaining to the scheme at the time of birth and the corresponding payments due to the child as a result of changes announced in budget 2009 for the parents of a child born on 21 September 2008. [37610/08]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 178: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if the cutbacks to the early child care supplement announced in the budget 2009 speech will apply to children for whom parents are already receiving payment or only to children joining from January 2009. [37612/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 176 and 178 together.

The rates of payment for the Early Childcare Supplement (ECS) are a matter for the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. The Department of Social and Family Affairs issues the payments on an Agency basis for that Office. I understand that the ECS is currently paid on a quarterly basis at €275 per quarter from the quarter the child is born until s/he reaches 6 years. From January 2009, ECS payments will be made monthly at €92 per month from the month after the child is born until s/he reaches 5 years and 6 months. The January 2009 changes to the ECS scheme will apply to both new and existing claims. Payments in 2009 will be at the monthly rate of €92 and will continue until the child reaches 5 years and 6 months.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 177: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if the new arrangements for disability allowance in respect of persons aged under 18 years announced in budget 2009 will apply to all under 18 years including those whose parents have not previously received domiciliary care allowance. [37611/08]

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 184: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will support a matter (details supplied). [37752/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 177 and 184 together.

A number of families and representative groups expressed concerns about the impact of the changes to the DA scheme announced in Budget 2009. Having reflected on these concerns the Government, on my recommendation, agreed that the existing arrangements, whereby DA is paid to 16 and 17 year olds, will continue pending completion of a full review of the DA scheme. The changes announced as part of the Social Welfare Budget were designed to address concerns raised by a number of bodies about the appropriateness of paying young people a social welfare payment in their own right at the age of 16.

The National Federation of Voluntary Bodies in particular had argued in a submission to the Department's review of the Disability Allowance Scheme that "at present the age for receipt of DA is 16 years. We deem this to be too young. This does not give an incentive for a child to pursue work/education options. Subsequently a child may fall into the dependency trap too early. Instead parents should receive the Domiciliary Care Allowance for the child until they are 18 years old."

The Government's motivation in making changes to the Disability Allowance was to address these concerns. This week I met with six different groups representing people with disabilities and disability service providers (namely the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies, Inclusion Ireland, Down Syndrome Ireland, People with Disabilities in Ireland, the National Disability Authority and Rehab). At these meetings, the underlying principle of the Budget measure, i.e. that it is inappropriate to pay a social welfare payment to a 16 year old in his or her own right, was not seriously contested. The key concern expressed by the groups related to the loss of expected income at short notice to families of young people with disabilities.

Following these meetings, I recommended to the Government that the Disability Allowance continue to be paid to 16 and 17 year olds pending a full review of the scheme. The review is considering a wide range of issues as identified by groups representing people with disabilities and their families, by service providers and will take account of a forthcoming report on disability and illness benefits by the OECD. It will also draw on new data published by the Central Statistics Office last week from the National Disability Survey 2006. In the circumstances, the question of a possible entitlement to the Domiciliary Care Allowance in respect of persons aged between 16 and 18 does not now arise.