Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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121. To ask the Minister for Social Protection when he will review the disability benefit scheme. [10864/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Illness benefit is an income support payment for people of working age who are unable to work due to illness and who satisfy certain social insurance conditions. The payment has its origins in the disability benefit scheme. The scheme is intended to provide income replacement for insured persons during short spells of incapacity or illness. Other payments, such as invalidity pension or disability allowance, are available to people who are unable to work long-term because of a disability or a medical condition. The illness benefit budget for 2016 is €595.9m.

The Department keeps all of its scheme under review and, where necessary, it updates the schemes to achieve the best outcomes for recipients. While recent changes to the payment include the introduction of a maximum time limit for new claimants and an increase in the number of waiting days for entitlement to illness benefit, there are currently no immediate plans to modify the conditions of the scheme.