Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 360: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the rates of back to school clothing and footwear allowance that will apply in 2009. [37871/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme is administered on behalf of the Department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Applications for the allowance may be made between the beginning of June and the end of September each year.

The 2009 rates are €200 for children aged 2 to 11 years old and €305 for children aged 12 to 22. In Budget 2009, I have increased the income thresholds for entitlement to back to school clothing and footwear allowance by €50. This will bring the income limits for the allowance for parents with one child to €559.80 (for couples) and €406.30 for lone parents. The new income limits will enable an estimated 18,000 additional families to benefit from the scheme.

A person may qualify for payment of an allowance if they are in receipt of a social welfare payment or Health Service Executive payment, are participating in an approved employment scheme or attending a recognised education and training course and have household income at or below the income limits. People in receipt of family income supplement may also qualify.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 361: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 3; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37875/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, provides for the payment of rent supplement to eligible people whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs.

The Health Service Executive has advised that the person concerned has been refused rent supplement on the grounds that her partner is engaged in full-time employment. Rent supplement is not payable in circumstances where the applicant or spouse is engaged in remunerative full-time employment. A spouse is defined in the relevant legislative provisions as "each person of a married couple who are living together, or a man and woman who are not married to each other but are cohabiting as husband and wife".

This decision has been upheld by the Executive's designated Appeals Officer. It is open to the person concerned to appeal against this decision to the Chief Appeals Officer of the Department.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 362: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will support a proposal (details supplied). [37934/08]

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 374: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will reverse her decision on the qualifying age for the disability allowance in budget 2009; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38313/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 362 and 374 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.

Last 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.