Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 161: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the difficulties which some pensioners are experiencing in travelling to their post office to collect their State pensions as some are residing in rural areas and the only bus to the nearest town is not available on the day they can collect their pensions; and if she will arrange to have the State pension collected on a Thursday instead of a Friday for those with such difficulties. [21952/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The current range of payment options offered by the Department to state pension recipients include payment at a local post office or to a bank or building society account or certain credit unions that have been authorised by the banking and credit union regulators. State pension recipients can opt for a payment method having regard to their own personal circumstances.

The Department administers a variety of schemes which have a weekly and monthly payment cycle. For operational reasons, and to facilitate the distribution of payments through the post office network, each scheme is assigned a day of the week for payment. These measures ensure that payments to be distributed through post offices are spread across the week. A state pension recipient can collect their payment on the due date, Friday, or on any day of the week within 60 days thereafter.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 162: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if domiciliary care allowance will be granted to a person (details supplied) in County Cork. [21962/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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In order to qualify for Domiciliary Care Allowance a child must have a disability so severe that he or she requires care and attention and /or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. The level of care and attention required to allow the child to deal with the activities of daily living must essentially require the fulltime attention of the applicant. The child must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 months.

An application for Domiciliary Care Allowance was received by the Department on 24th April 2009. This application was referred to one of the Departments Medical Assessors who found that the child in question was not medically eligible for Domiciliary Care Allowance.

A letter issued to the person in question on 14th May 2009 where she was advised of the decision to refuse Domiciliary Care Allowance. In the case of an application which is refused on medical grounds, the applicant may submit additional information and/or ask for the case to be reviewed by a different Medical Assessor specially designated for this task. Where a person is not satisfied with the decision of a Deciding Officer they may appeal the decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office.