Disability Allowance (DA) is a weekly allowance paid to people with a specified disability who are aged 16 or over and under the age of 66. This disability must be expected to last for at least one year and the allowance is subject to a medical assessment, means test and Habitual Residency conditions
My Department received an application for DA from the person concerned on 2 December 2022. Based on the evidence supplied, his application was initially disallowed on the grounds that both the medical qualifying condition was not satisfied, and he did not satisfy the conditions of being habitually resident in the state. On receipt of further medical evidence and a valid Stamp 4, the HRC conditions were deemed to be met and the person concerned was disallowed solely on the grounds that the medical qualifying condition was still not satisfied. The person concerned was notified in writing on 15 March 2023.
Following a request, a review of the decision of 15 March 2023 was carried out and the original decision was upheld. The person concerned was notified in writing of this decision on 29 March 2023. They were given the right to request a review or to appeal the decision to the independent Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO). I can confirm that no request for a review or an appeal has been received to date.
This parliamentary question cannot be referred as a request for appeal. An appeal request can be submitted in writing by the customer to the Social Welfare Appeals Office (SWAO), outlining their reason for an appeal. The person concerned may wish to submit additional supporting documentation to support their application.
Contact details of the SWAO are as follows:
Social Welfare Appeals Office, FREEPOST, D’Olier House, D’Olier Street, Dublin 2, DX2 XY31 or by email to: swappeals@welfare.ie
Additional information on submitting an appeal can be found on www.gov.ie/socialwelfareappealsoffice
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
