Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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600. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of persons on jobseeker's benefit in each of the past five years, in tabular form. [65698/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Jobseeker’s Benefit is a payment for people between 18 and 66 years of age who are part-time, casual, short-time and seasonal workers, those whose employment is based around the school or academic year, and retained fire-fighters. Jobseeker’s Pay Related Benefit was introduced in March of this year, and is designed for individuals who became fully unemployed on or after 31 March 2025. This benefit replaces the previous Jobseeker’s Benefit and is calculated based on the individual’s earnings from their last employment, rather than a flat rate payment.

Recipient numbers are set out in the table below.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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601. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection his views on issues around State support for a person (details supplied). [66012/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Maternity Benefit is paid for 26 weeks to employed and self-employed women who are on maternity leave and who satisfy certain Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contribution conditions. To qualify, a person must meet one of the following:

• At least 39 weeks PRSI paid in the 12 months before the first day of maternity leave, or
• At least 39 weeks PRSI paid since first starting work and at least 39 weeks PRSI paid or credited in the relevant tax year or the year following, or
• At least 26 weeks PRSI paid in the relevant tax year and at least 26 weeks PRSI paid in the tax year prior to that.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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602. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the amount his Department spent on State pension contributory and disability allowance payments for the month of October 2025; and if he will provide the same figures for October 2023 and October 2024, in tabular form. [65882/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The expenditure on State Pension (Contributory) and Disability Allowance in October 2023, 2024 and 2025 is outlined in the table below.

• The majority of State Pension (Contributory) recipients receive their weekly payment on a Friday. In October 2025, there was an additional Friday compared to 2023 and 2024, which resulted in higher expenditure in that year.
• The majority of Disability Allowance recipients receive their weekly payment on a Wednesday. In October 2023, there was one less Wednesday than in 2024 and 2025, which resulted in lower expenditure in that month that year.
• In the final week of October 2024, Disability Allowance recipients received the October Bonus double payment. This resulted in additional expenditure compared to other years.
• Weekly headline rates of both schemes increased from 2023 to 2024, and again from 2024 to 2025.

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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603. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection his views on whether the way in which a person was treated (details supplied) was fair; if he will have this matter investigated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65899/25]

Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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604. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if his Department has conducted any analysis of how divorce or separations affect dependency entitlements for parents who are in receipt of welfare payments. [65967/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The social protection system has a range of supports available to parents who are raising children, including Child Benefit, the Child Support Payment and the Working Family Payment. With the exception of the universal Child Benefit, these schemes provide targeted assistance that is directly linked to household income and thereby support low-income families with children. Each of the schemes assist parents with the cost associated with raising children and contribute to alleviating child poverty.

The rules regarding each of these payments are contained in the relevant legislation and regulations. In general, only one payment is made in respect of each qualified child, this payment is made to the qualified person with whom the child is normally resident.

In the case of separated parents, the child shall be considered normally resident with the parent who has custody of the child, provided that the parent is making significant contributions to the child’s upkeep. Where a child is the subject of a joint custody arrangement and lives with both parents part-time, their normal residence is considered to be with the parent they spend most time with.

A parent who is divorced or separated, and who is not cohabiting, may be entitled to a One-Parent Family Payment, or Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment, subject to meeting all eligibility criteria.

The Department regularly reviews all of its schemes in order to ensure that they are still delivering on their policy aims and objectives. Any changes to the treatment of payments after divorce or separation would have to be considered in a wider policy and budgetary context.

I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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605. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to confirm whether payments from catastrophic injury claims from the HSE would be included on the means test for carer’s allowance; if so, how this is calculated as per the means test; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65971/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Carer's allowance (CA) is a means-tested social assistance payment made to a person who is habitually resident in the State and who is providing full-time care and attention to a child or an adult who has such a disability that as a result they require that level of care.

Means are any income belonging to the carer and their spouse / partner, property, (except their own home), or an asset that could bring in money or provide them with an income, for example occupational pensions, or pensions or benefits from another country.

There have been a number of significant improvements made to the means test for CA in recent years. As part of Budget 2026, the weekly income disregard will increase from €625 to €1,000 for a single person and from €1,250 to €2,000 for a carer with a spouse / partner. This change will apply from July 2026 and represent a 60% increase in the current CA income disregards. In addition, the amount of capital disregarded in the means test is €50,000 for a single carer and €100,000 for a carer with a spouse / partner.

Social Welfare Legislation provides for the Rules governing means assessment for CA customers and provides that all income in cash or non-cash benefits that the applicant may reasonably expect to receive shall fall for assessment, except as prescribed. Amounts to be excluded from assessment are listed and set out in the legislation. As payments from catastrophic injury claims from the HSE are not listed, they are assessable as capital.

It is open to the customer to apply for CA to ascertain their entitlement to this means tested social assistance payment. A full means breakdown is issued to the customer at that stage.