Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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381. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he is aware that section 179(4) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005's criteria for when a relevant person shall be regarded as requiring full-time care and attention precludes many carers of neurodivergent people; if he is aware that this passage does not acknowledge the essential needs specific to neurodivergent people who require full-time care and attention; if guidance within his Department regarding these criteria and their application has been adapted so as to extend carer's allowance to carers of neurodivergent people; if guidance has been updated; if guidance has been sent out at a local level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53789/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Carer’s Allowance is a means-tested payment for people who are providing full-time care to someone who needs significant support due to age, physical or learning disability or illness. The main objective of the Carer’s Allowance payment is to provide an income support to carers whose ability to earn is substantially reduced because of their caring responsibilities.

To qualify for the Carer’s Allowance payment, the applicant must be providing full-time care and attention to a person who is so incapacitated that they require this level of care for at least 12 months.

A carer is regarded as providing full-time care and attention to a relevant person, where the number of hours providing such care is not less than 35 hours in a period of seven consecutive days, and care is provided on any five days, whether consecutive or not, within a period of seven consecutive days.

Carer’s Allowance is not intended to replace the full income a person might lose due to caring responsibilities, and it is not a wage for the work of caring. It is a social assistance support provided by the State to those who, because they are providing full-time care, are unable to earn or can only earn a limited income.

The legislation to which the Deputy refers does not preclude a person from being eligible for a carer's payment based on the disability or illness of the person being cared for.

Section 179(4) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 sets out the circumstances in which a relevant person, the person being cared for, shall be regarded as requiring full-time care and attention. These circumstances are where the person has such a disability that they require from another person continual supervision and frequent assistance throughout the day with normal bodily functions or continual supervision to avoid danger to themselves. In addition, it provides that disability or illness is such that they are likely to require such full-time care and attention for at least 12 consecutive months and that the nature and extent of the person’s disability has been certified in the prescribed manner by a medical practitioner.

Eligibility for the carer income supports provided by my department, including Carer’s Allowance, is not dependent on the nature of the illness or disability of the person being cared for. What matters is the level of full-time care and attention required and provided by the applicant.

I can assure the Deputy that every application for the department's schemes is individually assessed, in line with the provisions specified in the relevant legislation. Assessment is based on the information provided by the claimant and the medical information provided by healthcare providers and taking into account the opinion of the Department’s Medical Assessor.

I trust that this clarifies the issue for the Deputy.