Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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38. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the criteria for granting the carers' allowance for persons who care for children with severe autism; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47006/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I should state at the outset that eligibility for Carer’s Benefit or Allowance is not based on the type of impairment or disease but on the level of the care requirement consequent on the impairment.

The criteria for receipt of Carer’s Benefit or Allowance is that the recipient of care must be aged 16 or over and is so incapacitated as to require full-time care and attention or aged under 16 and getting a Domiciliary Care Allowance.

In relation to Domiciliary Care Allowance, the qualifying conditions for that scheme are that the child must be aged under 16, have a severe disability that is likely to last for at least 1 year, live at home with the person claiming the Carer’s allowance for 5 or more days a week, meet the medical criteria and be ordinarily resident in the State.

In a case where the child is 16 or over the child may apply for Disability Allowance in their own right and the person providing full-time care and attention may apply for Carer’s Benefit or Carer’s Allowance.

The person receiving care, over 16 years of age, is regarded as requiring 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 is so incapacitated as to be likely to require full-time care and attention for a period of at least 12 months.