1171. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Social Protection the plans to amend the conditions of a domiciliary care allowance payment (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41624/26]

1195. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will review the eligibility criteria for Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA), specifically the requirement that entitlement ceases when a child reaches 16 years of age; whether consideration is being given to extending eligibility to age 18, particularly for lifelong conditions such as Type 1 diabetes where significant care needs continue beyond age 16; the number of children in receipt of DCA whose entitlement ceased on reaching 16 years of age in each of the past five years; the number who subsequently applied for disability allowance; the number of those applications approved and refused; the average processing time for such applications; the estimated cost of extending the DCA eligibility from age 16 to age 18; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42411/26]

1200. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Social Protection whether consideration is being given to extending eligibility for domiciliary care allowance beyond the age of 16 years to 18 years to align with the completion of secondary school education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42540/26]

1259. Deputy Séamus McGrath asked the Minister for Social Protection to review the impact of the domiciliary care allowance payment ceasing when a child reaches 16 years-of-age, particularly for families of children with type 1 diabetes, whose condition requires ongoing, intensive daily management well into late adolescence. [43376/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1171, 1195, 1200 and 1259 together.

Domiciliary Care Allowance is a non means tested payment to a parent or guardian in respect of a child under 16 who has a severe disability and requires continuous care and attention, substantially more than what is typically required by a child of the same age.  Eligibility is not based on the disability or diagnosis, but on the impact of the disability in terms of the level of care and attention required by the child.

From January 2026, the monthly rate of Domiciliary Care Allowance increased from €360 to €380.  This represents a total rate increase of €70.50 since January 2022.  More than 64,460 families are currently receiving Domiciliary Care Allowance in respect of approximately 73,580 children.  The estimated expenditure on the scheme in 2026 is almost €359 million.

Domiciliary Care Allowance stops being paid when a child turns 16 years of age.  If the young person continues to suffer from a disability that significantly impacts their daily living activities, they can then apply for a Disability Allowance payment in their own name of €254 per week.  To avoid any gap in support, families can apply for Disability Allowance up to 3 months before the child’s 16th birthday.

Where the child's carer is also receiving Carer's Allowance or Carer's Benefit, those payments will continue for as long as the qualifying conditions are met, even after Domiciliary Care Allowance stops.  In addition, as long as the carer is continuing to provide full-time care and attention, they will continue to be eligible for the annual Carer's Support Grant.  This year’s grant was paid last Thursday, 4th June, and now stands at €2,000.

The table below shows the number of Domiciliary Care Allowance claims that closed when the child turned 16 and the numbers who subsequently went on to a Disability Allowance payment, over the last 5 years:

The Department does not maintain statistics on the number of those formerly on Domiciliary Care Allowance who subsequently apply for Disability Allowance, in terms of the applications approved, refused and processing times.  Overall, the current average processing time for a Disability Allowance claim is 6 weeks.

To calculate the cost of extending Domiciliary Care Allowance to parents or guardians of 16 and 17 year-olds, it is necessary to look at the number of children currently aged 14 and 15 whose parents or guardians receive the payment.  In 2025, there were approximately, 6,400 children aged 15 and over and a further 6,250 children aged 14.  The approximate cost of extending Domiciliary Care Allowance to these 14 and 15 year-olds when they turn 16 and 17 would be an additional €83 million per year.  This costing assumes the current 2026 monthly rate of €380 and the annual Carer’s Support Grant of €2,000 are paid in respect of these 12,674 recipients.  It should be noted that there may be young people aged 16 and 17 now who would also qualify were the scheme extended to age 18 but there is no estimate of this number available to factor into the costing.  In addition, estimated costings are subject to change.

Any future reform of Domiciliary Care Allowance will be considered in the context of commitments set out in the Programme for Government and the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030.