Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 July 2016
416. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will intervene in a case to ensure that a person (details supplied) is not required to make a new carer's allowance application for a relation. [22209/16]
View answerThe person concerned is in receipt of carer’s allowance (CA) in respect of her mother since 10 March 2016. She applied for CA in respect of her sister on 12 April 2016.
Before becoming incapacitated herself, her mother was getting CA to care for the sister of the person concerned from 27 September 2007 to 9 March 2016.
It is a condition for receipt of a CA that the person being cared for must have a disability whose effect is that they require full-time care and attention.
This is defined as requiring from another person, continual supervision and frequent assistance throughout the day in connection with normal bodily functions or continuous supervision in order to avoid danger to him or herself and likely to require that level of care for at least twelve months.
Despite the fact that there was a different carer in receipt of CA in respect of the same care recipient, each application for CA must be examined by a deciding officer (DO) and dealt with on its own merits and each new applicant must demonstrate that all the qualifying conditions are satisfied.
The evidence submitted in support of this application was examined and the DO decided that this evidence did not indicate that the requirement for full-time care was satisfied. The DO has reviewed the evidence on foot of your enquiry and is of the opinion that the evidence supplied is quite scant in relation to details about what care the person requires on an ongoing basis.
The person concerned was notified on 13 July 2016 of this decision, the reason for it and of her right of review and appeal. It is open to the person in question to provide the DO with supplementary detail in relation to the care requirements in this case and it will be reconsidered.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
