Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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49. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the criteria for carer's allowance; if she will broaden the criteria to include family members and friends who are providing full-time care but who are not living with the care recipients; the number of persons in receipt of the carer's allowance and-or the respite care grant in tabular form, by male and female, in 2012, 2013, 2014 and to date in 2015. [10741/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Carer's Allowance (CA) is a payment to people on low incomes who are looking after a person who needs support because of age, disability or illness (including mental illness). To be entitled to CA the applicant must be providing full-time care and attention to a person in need of care who does not normally live in an institution. The qualifying criteria for CA do not exclude family members/friends who are providing full-time care but not living with the care recipients. However, where the carer lives apart from the care recipient, it is essential that a suitable method of communication is in place between their respective homes. In all cases, whether the carer is resident with the care recipient or not, the deciding officer must be satisfied that full-time care and attention is both required by the care recipient and being provided by the carer. In addition, the CA applicant must be habitually resident in the State and satisfy a means test.

The information requested by the deputy is set out in the following table:

Number of recipients of Carer’s Allowance by gender

*At end of February 2015

Number of recipients of Respite Care Grant by gender

**The number of recipients of respite care grant reported in 2012 are those not in receipt of any other carer’s payment (carer’s allowance, carer’s benefit, and domiciliary care allowance). There were approximately a further 65,000 respite care grant recipients who qualified for payment automatically under the terms of the relevant scheme. Respite care grant is payable on the first Thursday of June, therefore 2015 statistics are not yet available.