John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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922. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of people in receipt of disablement benefit for the years 2020 to 2025, by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29803/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Disablement Benefit is a payment provided by the Department under the Occupational Injuries Scheme. It is available to individuals who suffer a loss of physical or mental capacity due to a work-related accident, a direct commute-related accident, or a prescribed occupational disease. Quarterly data on the number of persons receiving Disablement Benefit is set out in the table below.

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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923. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of people in receipt of injury benefit for the years 2020 to 2025, by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29804/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Injury Benefit is a weekly payment from the Department provided under the Occupational Injuries Benefit Scheme to employees who are unfit for work due to an accident at work, while commuting directly to or from work, or from an occupational disease. To qualify, the individual must be employed under certain PRSI classes and be medically certified as unfit for work for more than three days. While Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) covers the first five days of illness or injury annually, Injury Benefit begins from day six if the incapacity continues.

Quarterly data on the number of persons receiving Injury Benefit is set out in the table below. Leitrim and Longford are combined are one due to low numbers.

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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924. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of people in receipt of illness benefit in the country for the years 2020 to 2025, by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29805/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Quarterly statistics on recipients of Illness Benefit, including a breakdown by county, is published in open data format as part of the Department's Quarterly Statistics report which is available at www.gov.ie/en/department-of-social-protection/collections/quarterly-statistics/#quarterly-statistical-open-data . These figures are set out in the table below.

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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925. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of people in receipt of domiciliary care allowance for the years 2020 to 2025, by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29806/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Domiciliary Care Allowance is a monthly, non-means-tested payment of €360 provided by the Department to support parents or guardians caring for a child under 16 with a severe disability. Quarterly data on the number of persons receiving Domiciliary Care Allowance is set out in the table below.

John Paul O'Shea (Cork North-West, Fine Gael)
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926. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of people in receipt of back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance for the years 2020 to 2024, by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29807/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance scheme provides a once-off payment to eligible families to assist with the costs of clothing and footwear when children start or return to school each autumn. The scheme operates from June to September each year.

The allowance is payable in respect of eligible children between the ages of 4 and 17 in respect of whom a Child Support Payment (previously known as Increase for a Qualified Child) is being paid and eligible children between the ages of 18 and 22 who are returning to full-time second level education and in respect of whom a Child Support payment is being paid.

To qualify for the allowance a person must meet a number of conditions, namely:

• The child must meet the age criteria,
• The applicant must be in receipt of a qualifying payment and getting an increase in that payment for the qualified child (except in certain circumstances) in the period 1 June to 30 September,
• The assessable income for the household must be within prescribed limits,
• The applicant and the child (or children) in respect of whom the allowance is claimed must be resident in the State.

The number of recipients who received the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance for the years 2020 to 2024, by county, is set out in tabular form below,

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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927. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the estimated cost to provide a €100 support to single/lone parents as a once off yearly payment. [29813/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The estimated cost of a once-off €100 payment to recipients of the One-Parent Family Payment and Jobseeker's Transitional payment is €6.3 million.

The One-Parent Family Payment is a means-tested payment for men and women who are bringing up a child, or children, without the support of a partner. The individual must also have main care and charge of at least one child who is residing with them, and must not be co-habiting with someone.

The Jobseeker's Transitional Payment is another social welfare payment provided by my Department to support lone parents whose youngest child is between 7 and 14 years of age. This allows recipients of the scheme to balance their work and caring responsibilities while also supporting them to move towards sustainable employment as their children get older.

It should be noted that this costing is based on the number of recipients as of April 2025, and is subject to change in light of emerging trends and subsequent variations in the number of recipients.

It should also be noted that recipients of the One-Parent Family Payment and Jobseeker's Transitional Payment were eligible to receive the October and Christmas Bonus payments paid to recipients of long-term social welfare payments in 2024, which were announced as part of Budget 2025.