Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

326. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will support the request from an organisation (details supplied) for funding support to enable its vital work of providing financial assistance directly to parents of children with life-limiting or chronic complex care needs across Ireland to help with the non-medical expenses related to caring for their child; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43758/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am familiar with the documentation forwarded by the Deputy. I have met with the founders of the organisation concerned and heard first-hand their personal story. I am aware of the very valuable work they carry out in terms of easing the financial burden of families with children who have life limiting conditions. Many of the costs incurred by these families include travel, accommodation, petrol, subsistence due to the necessity to attend healthcare and medical settings with their children, e.g., hospitals.

As the Deputy is aware, the key role of the Department of Social Protection is to provide income supports where an income need may arise due to unemployment, illness/disability and caring responsibilities. The payments provided support people who cannot earn an income, or can only earn a limited income, and who have no other means or resources to rely upon. In this regard my department supports family carers directly and not through the mechanism of onward funding through a third party.

The main income supports to carers provided by my department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending in 2023 is expected to amount to almost €1.6 billion on these payments.

Carer’s Allowance is the main scheme by which the Department provides income support to carers. It is a means tested social assistance payment awarded to those who are caring for certain people who require full-time care and attention. The objective of the payment is to provide an income support to carers whose earning capacity is substantially reduced as a consequence of their caring responsibilities and in so doing to support the ongoing care of the person in respect of whom care is being provided. There are currently 94,358 recipients of Carer's Allowance.

My department also provides a range of non-means tested payments to support family carers, these include Carers Benefit, the Carer's Support Grant and Domiciliary Care Allowance.

In acknowledging the financial burden families of sick children face, I have made significant changes to the Domiciliary Care Allowance payment over the last two years:

- As part of Budget 2022, the period during which Domiciliary Care Allowance can be paid for children in hospital was extended from 3 months to 6 months.

- As part of Budget 2023 and with effect from January, Domiciliary Care Allowance is available for babies who remain in an acute hospital after birth for a period of 6 months. During both these extended periods of eligibility and where other conditions are met, a carer may also receive Carer's Allowance or Carer's Benefit and the Carer's Support Grant.

It is also worth noting that under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, the Department may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income. This could include payment for costs such as travel and necessary temporary accommodation while attending hospital appointments. These payments are administered by the Community Welfare Service of the Department and are payable at the discretion of the CWS officer considering the requirements of the legislation and all the relevant circumstances of the case.

I acknowledge that the work of the organisation concerned is beneficial and important to many families across the country; however it is not part of the remit of my department to provide supports to family carers in this manner.

I can assure the Deputy that I will continue to keep the range of supports provided directly to family carers under review to ensure they meet their stated objectives. However, any further changes, would have to be considered in an overall budgetary and policy context.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

327. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he will address a matter (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43779/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

On 20 September, I published a Green Paper on Disability Reform and launched the associated public consultation.

The Green Paper on Disability Reform was developed as a response to commitments under the Roadmap for Social Inclusion, the Pathways to Work Strategy and the Make Work Pay Report and taking account of the Cost of Disability Report.

I would like to emphasise that this Green Paper is not a final design. It is a proposal on what the future of long-term disability payments could look like. It doesn’t claim to be the best way or the only way to change the structure of our payments. However, I believe that the proposals in the Green Paper are a good starting point for a structured discussion. The public consultation that I launched will last until 15 December 2023.

The main proposal of the Green Paper is to move to a three-tiered Personal Support Payment, rather than the one-size-fits-all payments we currently have. This would amalgamate the current system of Disability Allowance, Invalidity Pension, and Blind Pension into one payment with contributory and non-contributory streams.

As you know, people with disabilities in Ireland face a higher risk of poverty and have lower employment rates than other EU countries. The tiered proposal in the Green Paper attempts to address these twin challenges. We must insulate disabled people who cannot work from poverty. For disabled people who wish to work, we need more targeted employment supports.

I want to emphasise that the intention of the proposal is to try and simplify and make the social welfare system work better for people with disabilities. There are no proposals to reduce anybody's payment and many will receive increased payments of up to €45 per week.

I have already met with various disability organisations to brief them on the Green Paper and I want to work with them to ensure we get a strong response to this public consultation.

I hope that all interested parties will participate in one or more of our public consultation events. These are currently being organised by my officials for October and early November.

In the meantime, I would like to invite Rehab Group, other stakeholders, and people with disabilities and their families to express their views on these proposals. Full details on how to make a submission are available at www.gov.ie/DisabilityPaymentsReport.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.