Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 February 2026
28. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of domiciliary care allowance applications refused over the last three years, by county; the number of those refused where an appeal was registered; the outcome of that appeal, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15025/26]
View answerMy Department does not collate statistics on applications by county, and these figures are not readily available. The figures for claims rejected shown below are for the country as a whole. The number of Domiciliary Care Allowance claims which were rejected, along with the total number of appeals for Domiciliary Care Allowance claims for the last three years, are shown in the table below.
|
|
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
Claims Rejected |
4,079 |
4,554 |
5,167 |
|
Appeals Registered |
2,146 |
3,609 |
3,145 |
Note that appeals can be made for reasons other than a claim being rejected, such as backdating of a claim. The number of appeals registered refers to all appeals, and not only those for claims which were rejected. The outcomes of appeals for Domiciliary Care Allowance by year are shown below:
|
|
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
Revised by DSP Officer |
407 |
832 |
1,475 |
|
Allowed |
862 |
792 |
1,551 |
|
Partially Allowed |
54 |
29 |
17 |
|
Disallowed |
705 |
646 |
1,085 |
|
Withdrawn |
11 |
349 |
140 |
I have instructed officials in my Department to carry out a review of the DCA application process to ensure that is it empathetic, efficient and robust, and does not cause any unnecessary burden to those who seek this vital support.
