The Government acknowledges the valuable role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting carers in that role. This commitment is recognised in both the Programme for Government and the National Carers’ Strategy.The main income supports to carers provided by my department are Carer’s Allowance, Carer’s Benefit, Domiciliary Care Allowance and the Carer’s Support Grant. Spending on these payments is expected to amount to over €1.7 billion this year.
Domiciliary Care Allowance is a monthly allowance payable to a parent or guardian in respect of a child aged under 16 who has a severe disability that requires continual or continuous care and attention substantially over and above the level of care and attention normally required by a child of the same age and where the level of that disability is such that the child is likely to require this level of care and attention for a least 12 consecutive months. This level of care and attention must be required to allow the child deal with the activities of daily living.
Eligibility for Domiciliary Care Allowance is not based entirely on the child's disability or diagnosis but primarily on the impact of the disability in terms of the associated level of care and attention required by the relevant child compared to a child of the same age without their disability.
At the end of February, some 54,462 customers were in receipt of Domiciliary Care Allowance in respect of 61,119 children. Expenditure in 2024 is estimated at over €290 million.
To qualify for Domiciliary Care Allowance, the child must live at home with the person claiming the allowance for five or more days per week. If the child is in residential care but is at home for two days or more per week, a half rate allowance is payable. These criteria are set out in the legislative provisions for the scheme.
Parents or guardians in receipt of Domiciliary Care Allowance are eligible for an annual Carers Support Grant (€1,850) and, subject to satisfying a means test or having sufficient PRSI contributions, may also be eligible for Carer’s Allowance or Carer's Benefit.
While Domiciliary Care Allowance is not payable on an extended basis to or in respect of persons outside the State, a Carer may be absent from the state while on holiday for a maximum of 3 weeks each year and continue to receive payment.
In order to acknowledge and address the financial burden families of sick children face, the Government has made significant changes to the Domiciliary Care Allowance payment in recent years.
• As part of Budget 2022, the period during which Domiciliary Care Allowance can be paid for children in hospital was extended from 3 months to 6 months.
• As part of Budget 2023, Domiciliary Care Allowance has been made available for babies who remain in an acute hospital after birth for a period of 6 months.
During both these extended periods of eligibility and where other conditions are met, a carer may also receive Carer's Allowance or Carer's Benefit and the Carer's Support Grant.
It is also worth noting that from January this year, the rate of Domiciliary Care Allowance was increased from €330 to €340 per month. This payment has increased by €30.50 over the last two Budgets.
Any further revisions to the scheme, including the one proposed by the Deputy, would incur additional expenditure and would have to be considered in an overall policy and Budgetary context. Furthermore, such a change would have implications across the other carer income supports and would need also to be considered in that context.
I trust that this clarifies the issue for the Deputy.
