Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 April 2024
53. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the estimated cost of all means tested payments and supports in 2024; if any Departments are seeking to expand such payments by revision of such tests; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17778/24]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, means tested schemes are in place across a broad number of Government Departments to determine eligibility and rates payable for certain payments and supports. Means tests seek to ensure that scarce resources are allocated in a manner that reflects the policy objective of the scheme and allocate the available resources as effectively as possible to those most in need of support.
My Department does not collate information on the estimated cost of all means tested payments and supports. Some examples of such schemes and their associated Budgets are as follows:
In the Department of Social Protection, for example, social assistance schemes are generally subject to means testing. This would include Jobseeker’s Allowance (with a budget of almost €2billion in 2024), Disability Allowance (with a budget of €2.2 billion in 2024) and Carer’s Allowance (with a budget of €1.1 billion in 2024).
In the Health service, an important means test relates to the Medical Card scheme. The budgetary allocation by the Department of Health for 2024 for medical cards stands at just under €778m to cover GP fees related to costs arising from medical cards, just over €523m for Medical Card Schemes, and €20m allocated for medical cards provided to Ukrainian refugees. The medical card can also be used as a means to access support in other areas, such as free school transport.
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth facilitates the administration of a number of means tested schemes. The National Childcare Scheme consists of a universal element (the universal subsidy) and a means tested element (the income assessed subsidy). Whether families qualify for the universal or Income Assessed subsidy depends on their particular family circumstances. The 2024 NCS budget is €369m. The Department also has responsibility for the Blind welfare allowance with a budget of €11.690m and the Mobility allowance with a budget of €8.244m.
The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science has an allocation in 2024 of approximately €391m for the Student Support Grants (SUSI).
Relevant schemes in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage include the Rental Accommodation Scheme (with an allocation of €111m in 2024) and the Housing Assistance Payment (with an allocation of €525m in 2024).
The policy considerations around the revision of means tests are a matter, in the first instance, for each of the relevant Ministers. I am aware that revisions have been made to means tests in recent years by a number of Ministers, such as increases in the income and capital disregards applied in some tests. These have generally been made in the context of the annual budgetary process. Any proposals by individual Ministers to change or expand such payments by amendments to the means tests in the future would be a matter for consideration in the context of the overall annual budget process in light of the available resources and competing priorities.
