Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 7 Nov 1991

Vol. 412 No. 3

Written Answers. - Disabled Person's Maintenance Allowance.

Richard Bruton

Ceist:

148 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health the reason payment of disabled person's maintenance allowance has been restricted in cases where both spouses have a disability since the rate of payment is intended to help recipients deal with the extra costs of having a disability which do not diminish in any way when living with another person with a disability.

Minister for Health (Dr. O'Hanlon)

The disabled person's maintenance allowance is designed to enable people to provide for their maintenance, who because of their disability, cannot work and are not in a position to maintain themselves.

The practice had been that, in the case of couples, payment was on the basis of one full allowance and a dependant's allowance where either both spouses were entitled to a DPMA or where one spouse was entitled to a social welfare payment and the other to a DPMA. In 1988, however, the High Court found that, in the case of a couple where one partner was in receipt of a social welfare payment and the other in receipt of a DPMA, each was entitled to payment of their respective allowances at the full single rate in line with similar payments made to cohabiting couples. The DPMA regulations have now been amended so that married and cohabiting couples are treated in the same way as under the schemes operated by the Department of Social Welfare.

Interim arrangements have been put in place which provide that no couple currently in receipt of an allowance actually suffers a reduction in income as a result of the amendment.

Apart from the DPMA the needs of persons with a disability are provided for in a variety of ways, that is, mobility allowance, long term illness scheme, drugs subsidy and refund schemes, provision of technical aids and appliances, tax reliefs, housing grants, etc. In addition there are other support services for people with disabilities such as home helps, day and respite care and vocational training services.