Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 150: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the medical criteria for the domiciliary care allowance scheme that must be met for an application to be successful; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25283/09]

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 the child needs care and attention and/or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. This care and attention must be given by another person, effectively all of the time, so that the child can deal with the activities of daily living. The child must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 months.

Eligibility for Domiciliary Care Allowance is not based primarily on the impairment or disease, but on the resulting lack of function of body or mind necessitating a degree of extra care and attention required. Each application is assessed on an individual basis taking account of the evidence submitted.

As there were no agreed national medical guidelines for the scheme while it was administered in the Health Service Executive, an Expert Medical Group was established in advance of the transfer of functions to this Department. This Group was chaired by this Department's Chief Medical Advisor and comprised of medical personnel from the HSE as well as some eminent professionals in the areas of physical disabilities which affect children and child psychology. The primary purpose of this Group was to arrive at a consensus regarding the medical eligibility in order to qualify for Domiciliary Care Allowance from the Department with a view to ensuring a consistency in the application of the scheme rules. Every application is assessed by the Department Medical Assessors and an individual medical opinion, based on the information submitted by the applicant in support of their claim, is offered in each case.

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.

Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 151: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if there are plans to allow Irish citizens who have returned home after working for many years outside the country, and consequently have a pension from another country, to apply for the living alone allowance and free fuel allowance to her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25348/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The living alone increase is an additional payment of €7.70 per week made to people aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of certain social welfare payments and who are living alone. It is also available to people under 66 years of age who are living alone and who receive payments under one of a number of invalidity type schemes. The increase is intended as a contribution towards the additional costs people face when they live alone.

The increase is not a payment in its own right but a supplement to an Irish social welfare payment. As such, it cannot be paid to people without a social welfare entitlement or to those whose pension payments are made exclusively under the social security regimes of other countries. There are no plans to change these criteria.

In relation to those receiving payments exclusively from other countries, the needs of older people are often provided for in different ways by these countries. While the Irish system provides a basic pension, supplemented by allowances and other benefits, the approach adopted by other countries can be very different, with each country providing for the needs of older people in the way it sees fit. The fact that a living alone increase is not paid by another administration merely reflects a different approach to providing for the needs of older people.

It is, of course, open to recipients of pensions from other countries to apply for pensions under the Irish system and they can do this in a number of ways. Those with a mixture of social insurance contributions from this country, other EU countries, or from countries with which Ireland has reciprocal agreements, may qualify for a pro-rata contributory pension. Alternatively, they may qualify for a non-contributory pension if they can satisfy a means test. Improvements made to the income disregard in recent years have made it easier for people to qualify for a pension and receive the additional support provided under our pension system for those who live alone.

The national fuel scheme is a means-tested payment for householders on long-term social welfare or health service executive payments to assist with meeting the cost of their additional heating needs during the winter season. Fuel allowances are paid for 32 weeks from end-September to end-April. The allowance represents a contribution towards a person's normal heating expenses. A pension/benefit or equivalent payment from any country governed by EU Regulations or a country with which Ireland has a bilateral social security agreement is considered a qualifying payment for the purpose of the national fuel scheme. The main conditions that apply to the fuel allowance scheme are that a person must be in receipt of a qualifying payment, satisfy a means test and must either be living alone or only with a qualifying dependant.