Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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574. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to update the legislation governing the domiciliary care allowance scheme to allow for individual half rate payments to be made in respect of a child who satisfies the medical criteria for the scheme to both parents in separation cases in which there are equal joint custody arrangements in place and in view of the increasing number of court orders for 50-50 child custody arrangements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22314/18]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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There are no plans to introduce a half-rate payment option in respect of domiciliary care allowance (DCA) at present.

The Department has, however, recently completed a consultation process with people with disabilities, their families, advocates and representative groups on recommendations 9 and 10 of the Make Work Pay (MWP) report. The MWP report, published in April 2017 following a commitment in the Comprehensive Employment Strategy 2015 -2024, was undertaken in order to better identify how people with disabilities could be supported to achieve their employment ambitions.

The consultation reflects a commitment made at the time of the publication of the MWP report to consult widely with persons with disabilities and their families in relation to the number of recommendations about the principle of early engagement and a proposed reconfiguration of the Disability Allowance (DA) payment. One MWP recommendation is to support young adults through education, training and social inclusion according to their capacity, and to change the lowest qualifying age for DA from 16 to 18 years, with a corresponding change in the age to which DCA would be payable to 18.

I, together with my Government colleagues, look forward to learning the outcome of the consultation process in due course. The Government will then consider what actions will best support the overall objective of improving outcomes for persons with a disability.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.