In 2024, the Department reported 3.4 million decisions and the appeals office reviewed 40,684 appeals. As I said, the waiting period for the domiciliary care allowance is 9.2 weeks for appeals. I also thank the…

The alignment of the fuel allowance payment to the working family payment did more to raise awareness of the working family payment than a lot of things. It would, therefore, be helpful to know what he thinks a…

The ESRI findings on child poverty are a pretty damning indictment of the statements the Minister and the Government make. I am interested to know whether the Minister accepts the ESRI findings and its statemen…

Up to 20 years of home caring periods or homemaking disregards may be included when calculating a person’s rate of contributory State pension, subject to the relevant conditions.…

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. DCA stops being paid when a child t…

The Government recognises the invaluable contribution made by carers and we have prioritised improvements in supports for carers in recent budgets. We hold a carers forum in the Department every May where repre…

The carer's support grant is automatically paid to people in receipt of carer's allowance, carer's benefit and domiciliary care allowance. Other carers who are not in receipt of a carer's payment may also be el…

My question is about the payments and income disregards, how they are adjusted over time to keep up with inflation and the changes to the national minimum wage.…

Carer’s allowance is the main income support for carers. The changes mean that a carer in a two-adult household with an income of €110,000 can retain their full carer’s allowance payment or can receive a partia…

In the two years since, we have expanded the fuel allowance system to include the nearly 50,000 families who were brought into scheme this year by means of the extension of the fuel allowance to recipients of t…

I ask the Minister about the number of additional persons who have qualified for the carer's allowance since the increase in the weekly income disregard that took effect nationally in July 2026, and more partic…

In particular, we have increased the disregard of savings and investments from €20,000 to €50,000 for those aged 66 and over to encourage more eligibility for fuel allowance, which is paid through the fuel allo…

Does the Minister plan to introduce a cost of disability payment in the forthcoming budget in light of the high costs faced by people with disabilities? What the people who are living with disabilities and thei…

However, we acted in budget 2026 by introducing record child support payment increases for over-12s and under-12s and by improving the availability of the fuel allowance for those on the working family payment,…

While adult fares will increase by an average of 15%, child fares are being reduced in several areas nationally. We recognise that the NTA applies detailed statistical analysis of fare elasticity to assess the …

The application of the €18 million expenditure levy is currently forming part of the 2027 Estimates negotiations process under way with our colleagues in the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Pu…

When are we going to have additional carriages on the trains going into Galway? Can the Minister of State give us a clear timeline as to when the rail services going in and out of Galway specifically, and parti…

It is, therefore, imperative that there is a rebalancing of the critical equation in how we fund PSO public transport nationally, ensuring that fare revenue continues to make a sustainable contribution alongsid…

In accordance with section 13 of the Roads Act 1993, as amended, the improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority. For 2026, €718 million was a…

I want to make a simple, evidence-based case for retaining an all-day direct bus service from Littlepace to Dublin city centre. Under BusConnects, the 70 bus service, which is one of the most popular routes in …