Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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165. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the position regarding an application for a domiciliary care allowance by a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32748/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Applications for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) in respect of 2 children were received from the person concerned on the 1st July 2014 and 2nd July 2014. These applications were not allowed as the children were not considered to satisfy the qualifying conditions for the allowance. A letter issued in respect of each child on the 19th September 2014 outlining the decision of the deciding officer to refuse the allowance.

An appeal of these decisions was received together with additional information on the children’s condition/care needs. The applications together with the new information supplied were examined by another medical assessor who was of the opinion that the children did not meet the medical criteria for the allowance. Having reviewed the applications in their entirety, the deciding officer considered that a revision of the original decisions was not warranted and confirmed this in writing on the 7th February 2015. The files were then forwarded to the Social Welfare Appeals Office for consideration of the appeals.

An oral hearing with an Appeals Officer was held on the 8th July 2015. The person concerned was informed by the Social Welfare Appeals Office on the 6th August 2015 that the appeals against the domiciliary care allowance decisions had not been allowed.