Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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169. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the fact that there are persons that have no income of their own due to the fact that they are unable to work due to illness or disability or are stay at home parents (details supplied);; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51644/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides a number of income supports for those unable to work due to illness or disability. There is a range of benefits available to people who make Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions. Entitlement to such benefits is dependent on the individual's social insurance contribution record, the class of social insurance paid as well as satisfying other qualification criteria relevant to the scheme.

A person who has an insufficient PRSI contribution record to qualify for a social insurance benefit/pension may apply for the appropriate means-tested social assistance scheme.  A means test establishes if a claimant has enough financial resources to support themselves and determines what amount of social assistance payment, if any, for which they qualify.

This system of social assistance supports provides payments based on an income need with the means test playing the critical role in determining whether or not an income need arises as a consequence of a particular contingency – be that illness, disability, unemployment or caring. The continued application of the means test not only ensures that the recipient has a verifiable income need but that resources are targeted to those with greatest need.

Cash/income that is assessed as part of the means test includes any income from employment or self-employment (and that of their spouse/partner, if applicable), income from a social security pension from another country and maintenance payments.

Capital assessed as part of the means test includes all monies held in financial institutions or otherwise, the market value of shares, as well as houses and premises owned by a claimant which may or may not be put to commercial use.  Property personally used or the claimant’s home is never assessed as part of the means test, regardless of who is the legal owner.

Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged over 16 and under 66.  The disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, a means test and a habitual residency test.

The DA income disregard allows claimants to earn up to €140 per week from employment or self-employment without their payment being affected. Weekly earnings between €140 and €350 are assessed at 50% (that is 50% of earnings in this band are disregarded).  100% of earnings above €350 are assessed as means. An increase of €25 per week to the upper disregards was introduced in Budget 2022. This means that from June 2022 only earnings above €375 per week will be assessed at 100%.  The income disregard aims to ensure that people with disabilities can participate in work while retaining a proportion of their social welfare payment.

The DA capital disregard allows for people to have capital to a certain level without their payment being affected. The table below sets out  the formula used for determining weekly means from capital for DA.

Table: Weekly means formula for capital, Disability Allowance.

Earlier this year, I introduced a new income disregard for Disability Allowance recipients who have been granted bursaries, stipends or scholarships towards completing a PhD.  The disregard is subject to an annual limit of €20,000 per annum (i.e. if a recipient gets more than one bursary, the combination cannot exceed €20,000). This disregard is available for a maximum of four years. Budget 2022 saw the eligibility for this disregard expanded to recipients of the Blind Pension.

Social insurance payments for those unable to work due to illness or disability include Illness Benefit and Invalidity Pension. Illness Benefit is the primary income support payment for people who are unable to attend work due to illness of any type.  Additional payments may also be made in respect of a qualified adult and qualifying children.  Invalidity Pension is a pension paid to people who are 'permanently incapable of work' because of illness or disability. 

The Department also provides the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) scheme for those whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependants.  This scheme includes Exceptional Needs Payments, Urgent Needs Payments and SWA Supplements (heat, travel and dietary supplements). These means tested payments may be made to help meet essential expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet from their weekly income.  Details and eligibility criteria of the scheme are available at 

The Department regularly reviews its supports and payments schemes to ensure that they continue to meet their objectives - while any proposed changes have to be considered in an overall policy and budgetary context.