Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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1392.To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost of expanding Catherine’s Law to exempt Arts Council grants and bursaries from means-testing of the disability allowance, given that the Arts Council claims to fund 2,000 individual artists in total and disabled artists make up 7.38% of all artists according to the Demographics of the Arts Sector report published by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. [33470/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides a suite of income supports for those unable to work due to illness or disability. These include insurance-based schemes, based on Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions, and means-tested social assistance schemes.

The primary disability related social assistance scheme is Disability Allowance, which is a means-tested payment for people with a specified disability who are aged between 16 and 66. In addition to the means test, in order to be eligible, the disability must be expected to last for at least one year. The allowance is also subject to a medical assessment and a habitual residency requirement.

There are a number of scholarships, such as those awarded by certain charitable organisations, which are not assessed as part of the means test for any social welfare payment. In 2021/22, disregards were introduced for persons in receipt of the Disability Allowance and Blind Pension who have been granted a bursary, stipend or scholarship towards completing a PhD.

My Department has no data on which to base an estimated cost of expanding Catherine’s Law to exempt Arts Council grants and bursaries from means-testing for Disability Allowance. The report cited in the question makes no estimate of how many of the disabled artists it references are in receipt of Disability Allowance. I therefore regret that the information is not currently available to estimate the cost of such an expansion.