Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides a range of income supports for those unable to work due to illness or disability, the largest of which is the Disability Allowance scheme.  As at the end of April there were in excess of 155,600 people in receipt of this payment.  

Following Budget 2022, the Disability Allowance personal weekly rate increased, in January, to €208 per week.  In addition, increases are applied where there is a qualified adult (€138 per week) or where there are qualified children (€48/€40 per week depending on the age of the child). Persons in receipt of Disability Allowance are also entitled to a Free Travel Scheme pass and may be entitled to additional secondary benefits such as the Household Benefits Package.

Through the Budget process, a number of measures were introduced to support people with disabilities and carers, as follows:

1. General increase to the weekly rates of payment for working age schemes / recipients (under 66 years of age) by €5 per week, with proportionate increases for qualified adults and those on reduced rates;

2. Increase to the income disregard for Carer's Allowance from €332.50 to €350 for a single person and from €665 to €750 for a couple;

3. Increase to the capital disregard for Carer's Allowance from €20,000 to €50,000;

4. Extension to period during which Domiciliary Care Allowance can be paid for children in hospital from three months to six months (including payment of Carer's Allowance for this period);

5. Increase to the upper earnings disregard limit for both the Disability Allowance and the Blind Pension from €350 to €375 per week;

6. Increase to the rates of payment available under the Wage Subsidy Scheme which provides financial incentives for private sector employers to offer employment to jobseekers with disabilities, (bringing the strand one rate equivalent to 60% of the National Minimum Wage);

7. Three grants, currently available through Intreo centres, are also to be made available through Employability contractors in 2022;

8. Increase to the general weekly means disregard for Disability Allowance to €7.60 (was €2.50 per week);

9. Extension to the eligibility for the disregard of PhD scholarship income, in the means test, to recipients of Blind Pension;

10. Introduction of a grant of up to €500 in any calendar year towards the purchase of wigs/hairpieces/hair replacement systems in cases of hair loss due to illness or treatment of an illness;

11. Increase to the Fuel Allowance of €5 to €33 per week. The weekly means threshold was also increased by €20 from €100 to €120;

12. Increase to the Living Alone Allowance of €3, from €19 to €22 per week.

My 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. 

In addition to the above, my Department commissioned Indecon International Research Economists to carry out research into the cost of disability in Ireland and the Government published their report in December.  Additional costs of disability identified run across a number of areas of expenditure including housing; equipment, aids and appliances; mobility, transport and communications; medicines; care and assistance services and additional living expenses.  The Government has referred the report to the National Disability Inclusion Strategy Steering Group, which is chaired by the Minister of State with responsibility for Disability, Anne Rabbitte, TD.  All Departments have been asked to consider actions that are currently being implemented and any proposed new actions that they will be undertaking in the context of the findings of the Report.

My 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.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Diet supplement, administered under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, is payable to qualifying persons, in receipt of the supplement prior to February 2014, who have been prescribed a special diet because of a specified medical condition.  There are currently approximately 1,370 people in receipt of diet supplement at a cost of €0.75 million in 2021.

A review of the costs of healthy eating and specialised diets by the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute was commissioned by my Department during 2013.  The research showed that the average costs across all the retail outlets of the diets supplemented under the scheme could be met from within one-third of the minimum personal rate of social welfare payment, i.e. the Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) rate, which was then paid at €186 per week (and is currently paid at €206 per week).  The diet supplement scheme was discontinued for new applicants from 1 February 2014 based on this evidence.

Recipients continue to receive the diet supplement at their existing rate of payment for as long as they continue to have an entitlement to the scheme or until their circumstances change.  This measure ensured that nobody was immediately worse off by the closure of the scheme.

The SWA scheme is the safety net within the overall social welfare system in that it provides assistance to eligible people in the State whose means are insufficient to meet their needs and those of their dependents.  Supports provided under the scheme can consist of a basic weekly payment, a weekly or monthly supplement in respect of certain expenses, as well as single exceptional needs payments (ENPs) and urgent needs payments (UNPs). 

Under the SWA scheme, a supplement can be awarded to assist with ongoing or recurring costs that cannot be met from the client’s own resources and are deemed to be necessary.  In addition, officers can make a single ENP to help meet essential, once-off expenditure, which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income.  Decisions on ENPs and SWA supplements are made at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme taking into account the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case.

Any person who considers that they may have an entitlement to financial support should contact their local Community Welfare Service for assistance.  

Any decision to re-instate the Diet Supplement would require further analysis and would have to be considered in the context of the budgetary process.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.