Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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531. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the average processing times for domiciliary care allowance claim reviews and domiciliary care allowance claim appeals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35721/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is a monthly allowance payable to a parent / guardian in respect of a child aged under 16 who has a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention substantially in excess of the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age and where the level of the child's disability is such that the child is 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 in areas such as mobility, personal care, feeding / diet, communication, speech / language, sleeping, behaviour, safety, sensory issues, including any other additional needs.

The Department's systems do not collate data on DCA Reviews, therefore, the statistical information requested is not available.

The Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO) is an office of my Department which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare schemes and entitlements, including DCA. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision-making functions and management of the Appeals Office is the responsibility of the Chief Appeals Officer.

New Appeal claims are currently taking an average of 19.6 weeks to process from date of receipt of an Appeal request.

I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.

Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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532. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the average processing times for carer's allowance claim reviews and carer's allowance claim appeals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35722/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The mean time taken for decision reviews of Carer's Allowance claims carried out under the appeals process for 1 January - 31 May 2025 was 6.7 weeks. This is measured from the time the appeal is registered to when the decision is made by the DSP officer. Note that this does not include decision reviews carried outside the appeals process, as statistics for these are not maintained by the DSP.

The mean time taken for appeals of Carer's Allowance claims for 1 January - 31 May 2025 was 19.3 weeks. This is measured from the time the appeal is registered with the Appeals Office to when the final decision (Revised by a DSP Officer, Allowed, Partially Allowed, or Disallowed by an Appeals Officer) is made.

When an appeal is submitted, there are two stages to the appeal. First, the appeal goes back to the scheme area in DSP where the original decision on the claim was made, for review by a DSP officer. If the DSP officer decides to revise the decision, then the appeal is granted. If the decision is not revised, then it goes to an Appeals Officer in the Appeals Office, who can then either allow, partially allow, or disallow the appeal.