Beverley Flynn (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 195: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason a person (details supplied) in County Mayo was refused domiciliary care allowance. [4674/11]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Eligibility for Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is not based primarily on the impairment or disease, but on the resulting lack of function of body or mind necessitating a degree of substantial extra care and attention. Children with ADHD, or any other condition, do not automatically qualify for a payment under the scheme. Every application is assessed by one of the Department's medical assessors and an individual medical opinion, based on the information submitted by the applicant in support of the claim, is offered in each case. The deciding officer then makes a decision having considered the medical opinion provided and all the other information available.

In the case in question an application for DCA was refused on the grounds that the child did not satisfy the medical criteria for the scheme. The case was subsequently reviewed by a different medical assessor who supported this opinion.