Social Welfare Code
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-24
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Dara Calleary (FF), Mayo

I thank the Deputy for his ongoing interest in that. The domiciliary care allowance, DCA, is payable to a parent or guardian in respect of a child under 16 who has a severe disability and requires continuous care and attention. There are currently 65,950 families receiving this allowance in respect of approximately 75,500 children at an investment of almost €359 million in 2026. DCA stops being paid when a child turns 16. That aligns with the age disability allowance becomes available. If the young person has a disability that significantly impacts their daily living activities, they can then apply for a disability allowance payment in their own right of €254 per week, subject to satisfying the qualifying conditions for that scheme. That compares with a monthly payment of €380 under DCA.
I have no plans at this point to extend the age of entitlement for DCA. My focus in relation to carers remains the process of phasing out the means test for carer’s allowance, which is consistent with the policy approach advocated in the programme for Government and by family carer organisations. As the Deputy knows, significant improvements have been made in this area over the last number of years. Where a parent or guardian in receipt of DCA is also receiving carer’s allowance or carer’s benefit, those payments may continue after their child turns 16 where the qualifying conditions are met. There is also the carer’s support grant which is payable where full-time care continues.
I am absolutely focused on keeping the range of supports under review. This has been examined and predecessors in the Department tried to make movement on this some time ago but there is considerable debate within communities about this. I am happy to engage with Deputy Wall on how we could do it. We might get a chance with the next question to go through some of the concerns people have in this space.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-24