Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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149. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will consider excluding the working family payment from being reckonable for all means tested payments and services. [61673/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Social welfare legislation provides that means tests take account of the income and assets of the person (and their spouse or partner, if applicable) applying for the relevant scheme. Means assessments generally include income from employment, self-employment, occupational pensions and maintenance payments. They also include assessment of property owned other than the family home and capital such as cash, savings, shares, and other investments.

Any payment, including Working Family Payment, made by the Department of Social Protection is excluded from means assessment for the following schemes:

• Jobseeker's Allowance
• Jobseeker's Transitional Payment
• Disability Allowance
• Farm Assist
• State Pension (Non-contributory)
• Blind Pension
• Bereaved Partner’s (Non-contributory) Pension
• Guardian’s Payment (Non-Contributory)
• One-Parent Family Payment
• Carer's Allowance

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Noel McCarthy (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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150. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to provide an update on the Programme for Government commitment to extend from six to 12 weeks the period of a social welfare payment following the death of a dependent; the social welfare payments that are being considered for such an extension; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62260/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Government has agreed a number of commitments that are to be achieved over its lifetime.

One of the proposals in the Programme for Government is to extend the period of payment after death from 6 weeks to 12 weeks. While in general, across Social Welfare schemes, payment continues for a period of 6 weeks after death, there are some exceptions, with some payments already paid for a period of 12 weeks after the death of the recipient.

In this regard, Carer’s Allowance continues to be paid for a period of 12 weeks after the death of the person being cared for, while in the case of Domiciliary Care Allowance, payment continues for a period of 3 months after the death of the recipient.

Consideration and decisions in relation to any social protection measures contained in the Programme for Government will be taken in the context of overall funding available, the economic context, and competing Government priorities.

Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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151. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the action he is taking to support lone parents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62066/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has two primary social welfare supports specifically designed to support lone parents. The One-Parent Family Payment is a means tested payment for lone parents whose youngest child is under seven, while the Jobseekers Transitional Payment is a special arrangement under the means tested Jobseekers’ Allowance for lone parents whose youngest child is between seven and 13 years old inclusive. Lone parents may also be eligible for other payments such as the Working Family Payment, Back to Work Family Dividend and the Back to School Clothing and Footwear scheme.

Budget 2026 included a range of measures that will benefit lone parents, such as:

• A €10 per week increase to the personal rate of the One-Parent Family Payment and Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment. The increases will directly benefit some 113,000 children whose parents are in receipt of these payments.
• The largest ever increase in the Child Support Payment, which increased by €8 for children aged under 12, (a 16% increase), and €16 for children aged over 12 (a 26% increase). This change will bring the rate of the Child Support Payment to €58 for children aged under 12 and €78 for children aged over 12. Child Support Payment is payable with most primary payments, including One Parent Family Payment and Jobseeker's Transitional Payment.
• Expansion of the Back-To-School Clothing and Footwear Payment, to 2 and 3 year olds.
• A €60 increase to the Working Family Payment income thresholds. Almost two thirds of recipients of this payment are lone parent households.
• Eligibility for the Fuel Allowance is to be expanded to those in receipt of the Working Family Payment (to be implemented from March 2026, payments will be backdated to January 2026).
• The Fuel Allowance payment is to increase by €5 per week (an increase of more than 15%) to €38 per week. This increase will provide recipients with an additional €140 during the annual fuel allowance season.
• Christmas Bonus will be paid in December 2025, to almost 1.5 million customers, including those in receipt of the One Parent Family Payment and Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment.
• Other measures introduced, for example, with regards to caring and disability supports will also benefit lone parents, depending on individual family circumstances.

Eoin Hayes (Dublin Bay South, Social Democrats)
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152. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection his position on the process for self-employed people to gain access to jobseeker's allowance or benefit when their income declines or halts for extended periods of time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62249/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Jobseeker's Benefit (Self-Employed) is a payment for self-employed people who have ceased self-employment and have paid enough Pay-Related Social Insurance contributions. To be eligible for the payment a person must satisfy the statutory conditions of the scheme including being capable of work and available for full-time work, be genuinely seeking work and prove unemployment in the prescribed manner. Jobseeker's Benefit for the Self-Employed is paid for up to six or nine months depending on the number of Pay-Related Social Insurance contributions made.

Where a self-employed person is operating their business at reduced levels such that their income has declined they may receive support under the means-tested Jobseeker's Allowance.

If the deputy has a particular case, he should advise the person concerned to engage with the Department to assess the circumstances and the appropriate support.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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153. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection his proposed timeframe for abolishing the means test for carers allowance applicants. [62133/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government clearly sets out a timeline which commits to significantly increasing the income disregards for Carer’s Allowance in each Budget, with a view to phasing out the means test during the lifetime of the Government.

Phasing out the means test is a major change to the Carer's Allowance and to the Irish social welfare system generally. It is important that we make progress in a way that is sustainable, and which does not unduly limit our scope to support other vulnerable groups.

This process is well underway. The latest change was in July this year when the amount of weekly earnings disregarded increased to €625 for a single person and €1,250 for a couple.

Last month, as part of Budget 2026, I announced further improvements to the Carer’s Allowance means test that will be introduced next year. For carers who work, the weekly income disregard will increase by 60% from €625 to €1,000 for a single person, and from €1,250 to €2,000 for carers who are part of couple.

Since June 2022, this will bring cumulative increases to the disregards to €667.50 for a single carer and to €1,335 for a carer who is part of couple, or an increase of just over 200%.

These are the largest ever increases in the Carer’s Allowance income disregards. They will mean that even someone considered to be on a relatively high income will qualify for a carer’s payment for the first time. For example, a carer in a two-adult household with an income of approximately €110,000 will still retain their full Carer’s Allowance payment and even with an income of €138,000 will retain a partial payment.

The disregards for Carer’s Allowance are now by far the highest income disregards in the social welfare system, higher than those for any other weekly payment.

The latest changes are evidence of the Government’s determination to deliver on its commitment to eliminate the means test over our term. We will continue to do so in a progressive manner as part of the annual budget process.

I trust this clarifies the issue for the Deputy.

Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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154. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when the Christmas social welfare bonus will be paid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62026/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Budget 2026 provides for €28.9 billion to be spent on social welfare in 2026, including €1.15 billion of new social protection measures supporting pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, jobseekers and families in every parish across the country. This expenditure makes a real difference to communities across the country.

A Christmas Bonus payment was announced as part of Budget 2026. The Christmas Bonus will be paid this year to recipients of long-term social welfare payments (with a minimum payment of €20). Over 1.47 million people will benefit, including pensioners, people with disabilities, carers, lone parents and long-term unemployed people. Recipients of Illness Benefit for longer than 12 months will also receive the bonus, as they did in 2024.

Illness Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Supplementary Welfare Allowance and Daily Expenses Allowance recipients must have been in receipt of an eligible payment for at least 12 months in order to qualify for a Bonus payment.

The Bonus will be paid in early December.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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155. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he intends on updating the amount of time a person in receipt of disability allowance can spend outside the State within a year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62242/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Social welfare legislation provides that for entitlement to Disability Allowance a person must be habitually resident in the State.

Payment can continue for the first two weeks of absence from the State in any 12-month period. All recipients are required to notify the Department of any changes in circumstance which may impact their payment. This includes plans to be absent from the State. This practices ensures that the payments are made only to people who continue to be eligible for the scheme.

I am satisfied that the current travel arrangements are appropriate. Increasing payment periods while outside the state would call into question whether a person was actually resident in the State. It would also lead to inconsistencies across other social assistance payments as to what is regarded as a “temporary absence” from the State.

Any further changes to these arrangements would have legislative implications and could only be considered in an overall budgetary and policy context.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.