Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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994.To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to provide a breakdown of applications and actual payment of domiciliary carer’s allowance for carers of people with invisible disabilities, i.e., autism; and if she will make a statement on the matter.[35251/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA) is payable to a parent / guardian in respect of a child aged under 16 who has a severe disability requiring continual or continuous care and attention substantially in excess of the care and attention normally required by a child of the same age and where the level of the child's disability is such that the child is likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 consecutive months.

Eligibility for DCA is not based entirely on the type or nature of the child's disability but primarily on the impact of the child's disability / diagnosis in terms of the associated level of care and attention required by the child compared to a child of a similar age who does not have such a disability / diagnosis. The decision and assessment process that applies in the consideration of whether a child satisfies the criteria for DCA includes the examination of all relevant factors identified as impacting on the child's additional care needs.

While statistical information on overall DCA applications, including claims in payment is available, a breakdown in relation to a child's specific disability, including invisible disabilities such as autism or any other disability or medical condition, is not collated. It should also be noted a child may have multiple diagnoses.

For information, the following table sets out the number of DCA applications that were received, awarded and disallowed in the current year (2024) to end of July, as well as the number of DCA claims that are currently in payment.

I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.