Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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108. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of people that her Department has assisted who vacated Gaza since the onset of the most recent Israeli attacks; the supports that have been provided to these citizens by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51502/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department is part of the response providing support to Irish citizens arriving from Gaza to Ireland. During 18th and 19th November, my officials from the Community Welfare Service were at Dublin airport to meet and assist, where necessary, persons arriving from Gaza. This participation will remain ongoing for the duration of these arrivals.

The role of the Community Welfare Service is to provide immediate support to persons arriving from Gaza into Ireland and in this regard some persons at the airport were provided with financial support to assist with their immediate personal needs on arrival. Arrangements were also put in place for persons to access PPSNs and primary payments from my Department in the coming days. Other Departments and agencies involved are providing health, housing and other services as necessary.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Fuel Allowance is a payment of €33.00 per week for 28 weeks from September to April. The allowance represents a contribution towards the energy costs of a household. It is not intended to meet those costs in full. One allowance is paid per household.

Qualifying payments for Fuel Allowance are those payments that are considered long term payments and an applicant must also satisfy a means test.

The person concerned is in receipt of Illness Benefit. Illness Benefit is a short-term payment for those who are certified by their GP as needing to take time out from their employment due to illness and, accordingly, is not a qualifying payment for Fuel Allowance.

Under the Supplementary Welfare Allowance scheme, Exceptional Needs payments may be made to help meet an essential, once-off cost, which customers are unable to meet out of their resources, and this may include exceptional heating costs. Decisions on such cases are made on a case by case basis.

I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.

Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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110. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if, with regard to applications for carer’s allowance benefit, she will clarify the reason people already in receipt of another social welfare payment are cut off from receiving that payment immediately from the date of their application for the carer’s allowance, as carer’s allowance applications are currently taking a minimum of 12 weeks to process, with applicants being advised to apply for supplementary welfare allowance in the interim, which is itself taking a minimum of six weeks to process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51553/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Carer's Allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care.

It should be noted that if a person is in receipt of another social welfare payment in their own right (other than a Jobseeker's payment or Supplementary Welfare Allowance) or is being claimed as a qualified adult on their spouse / partner's payment, a half-rate CA can be paid to the person, as long as all the normal conditions for receipt of CA are satisfied. An applicant for CA is not available for full time work and, as a result, they do not meet the eligibility criteria for a Jobseekers payment.

My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers, ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.

There are no delays in processing claims once all of the necessary information is provided to establish entitlement to CA. The target processing time for CA is to process 75% of new claims within 10 weeks. At the end of September 2023, 89% of applications were completed within the expected timeframe and the average time taken to award a CA claim is 6 weeks.

Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA) provides immediate assistance for those in need who are awaiting the outcome of a claim or an appeal for a primary social welfare payment or who do not qualify for payment under other State schemes.

The current average time to award a basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance is one week. Fully completed applications, where the required documentation is supplied, are processed promptly. Where an application cannot be finalised promptly, the delay is normally due to the need for additional information or documentation and the time it takes for the information to be provided. Upon receipt of this information, the application is then processed immediately without delay.

If the Deputy has a query on an individual case, the details can be forwarded to my Department and will be examined by an officer.

I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.