Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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327. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if provision will be made for parents whose domiciliary care allowance application is delayed due to the long waiting list for an ASD assessment for their child; if not, the other options that are available to the parents to expedite the process in absence of an assessment in the short-term; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47064/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is payable to a parent / guardian in respect of a child aged under 16, who has a severe disability and requires continual or continuous care and attention substantially over and above the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age. The child must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 consecutive months. This level of care and attention must be required to allow the child to deal with the activities of daily living. Eligibility for DCA is determined primarily by reference to the degree of ongoing additional care and attention required by the child rather than the child's disability.

While an assessment or diagnosis of a specific disability such as ASD may assist the Department's deciding officers and medical assessors to make an appropriate decision on entitlement and at the earliest date possible, eligibility is not based on the type of disability but on the resulting medical and additional care needs. The assessment process that applies in the consideration of whether a child satisfies the criteria for receipt of DCA includes the examination of all relevant factors identified as impacting on the child's additional care needs. A diagnosis of ASD alone or any other disability or condition does not necessarily indicate the level of care required by the child.

Applications for DCA are decided by a deciding officer on a case by case basis, while also considering the opinion of a Departmental medical assessor. In addition to the personal details supplied on the completed application form (Dom Care 1), including the signed details from the applicant's GP on this form, the applicant may provide any additional information or documentary evidence that is relevant to their application, such as medical professional report(s) if available, but there is no specific requirement to provide this information.

A parent / guardian should apply for DCA once they consider that their child may meet the qualifying conditions for the allowance. It is also open to an applicant to subsequently request a review of any decision and this right is not time limited. If requesting a review of a deciding officer's decision, an applicant may forward further new documentary or medical evidence that was not previously available with the initial DCA application for further consideration.

I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.