Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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281. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason a person (details supplied) was refused payment under the disability allowance scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16786/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The person in question appealed to the independent Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO) a decision by a deciding officer to disallow his application for disability allowance (DA). The deciding officer disallowed his claim on the grounds that he failed to show his means did not exceed the statutory limit.

Following due consideration, the appeal of the person in question was disallowed by an appeals officer (AO) on 24 November 2015. He was notified of this decision in writing by the SWAO on the same date.

An AO’s decision is final and conclusive in absence of any fresh facts or evidence.

An initial examination of the PRSI contribution record of the person concerned indicates that he would not qualify for invalidity pension based on the PRSI contributions paid within this State. However, if he has worked and paid social insurance contributions within the EU he may qualify based upon his EU record. It is open to him to apply for IP so that his eligibility may be definitively ascertained.

Also, he may reapply for DA if he feels that he would satisfy the means test and is prepared to cooperate in that regard.

Under the legislation governing the means test for DA, when a deciding officer is assessing means for a property that is not the primary residence of the person, the net capital value of the property is assessed whether or not the property is rented out. Full information in relation to the means test and the DA scheme is available on my Department’s website .

I trust this clarifies matters for the deputy.