Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 July 2019
2833. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the waiting times to process payment of the respite care grant; the number of applications on hand; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34549/19]
View answerThe Carer’s Support Grant is paid by the Department, on the 1st Thursday in June each year, to persons in receipt of Carer's Allowance or Carer's Benefit or Domiciliary Care Allowance. The annual grant is paid at the rate of €1,700 in respect of each person being cared for. Over 105k payments were made that day.
A carer who is not in receipt of one of these payments can still qualify for the grant, once they make an application and satisfy certain conditions. As entitlement to the grant has to be established, which takes some time for to make a decisions on such claims. This is currently eight weeks, but as there are only 1,002 claims remaining to be decided and this is at the end of the claim season for 2019 applications this number will reduce quickly.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
