Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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49. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason families or 22Q11 adults are not receiving the carer's allowance. [33146/14]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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115. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to review the requirement that a person, in order to qualify for carer's benefit, must have been working 16 hours per week or 32 hours per fortnight; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34019/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 49 and 115 together.

Carers Benefit is designed to facilitate people, including job-sharers, in full-time employment to leave the workforce temporarily to care for someone who is need of full-time care and attention. The employment conditions attached to Carers Benefit (including the requirement to have been working 16 hours per week or 32 hours per fortnight for at least 8 of the previous 26 weeks), are intended to ensure that the recipients of Carers Benefit have had a recent attachment to the workforce while facilitating the inclusion of those who have an irregular work pattern and I have no plans to make any changes in this regard.

Regarding qualification for Carers Allowance, one of the conditions is that the recipient of care must be over the age of 16 and so incapacitated as to require full-time care and attention or aged under 16 and getting a Domiciliary Care Allowance.

The person receiving care is deemed to require full-time care and attention where he or she is so incapacitated as to require continuous supervision in order to avoid danger to him or herself or continual supervision and frequent assistance throughout the day in connection with normal bodily functions, and he or she is so incapacitated as to be likely to require full-time care and attention for a period of at least twelve months.

The degree and type of medical incapacity of the care recipient must be certified by a medical doctor and each case is assessed in accordance with the criteria that the person receiving care is regarded as requiring full time care and attention, as outlined above. A decision on entitlement is then delivered based on the assessment of the need for full–time care and meeting the other criteria for the scheme.