Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 301: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of cases of domiciliary care allowance that have been rejected in the first quarter of 2010; the number of appeals in the first quarter of 2010; the number of appeals that were overturned in the first quarter of 2010 on a county basis. [16764/10]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 302: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of cases of domiciliary care allowance that were rejected in 2009; the number of appeals in 2009; the number of appeals that were overturned in 2009 on a county basis. [16765/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 301 and 302 together.

Since the 1 April 2009 this Department has been accepting new claims for domiciliary care allowance (DCA). This follows the transfer of the scheme from the Health Service Executive on foot of a Government decision to reallocate certain functions between Departments and Agencies as part of the health service reform programme. In the period 1 April 2009 to 31 December 2009 a total of 2,823 DCA applications were fully processed by the Department, of which 1,792 have been deemed not to satisfy the criteria for the scheme. 836 appeals were registered in 2009 with 60 finalised to date, of these cases, 47 were revised by the Deciding Officer based on additional information received, 2 withdrawn, 5 disallowed and 6 allowed by the appeals officer.

In the first quarter of 2010, a total of 1,280 DCA applications were fully processed by the Department, of which 944 were deemed not to satisfy the criteria for the scheme. 382 appeals were registered in the first quarter of 2010, with 225 finalised to date. Decisions have been revised by the Deciding Officer in 165 cases following review based on additional information supplied, 3 withdrawn, 49 have been disallowed, 1 partially allowed and 7 allowed by the appeals officer. The information requested in relation to a breakdown of appeal outcomes by county is not held. Information on the number, and outcomes, of applications received before April 2009 is not held by the Department as the Domiciliary Care Allowance scheme was operated by the HSE prior to this date.