Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 November 2025
98. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Social Protection the current average waiting times for decisions on disability allowance and domiciliary care allowance applications, disaggregated by county, in tabular form; the steps being taken to reduce delays for families awaiting essential supports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62165/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am pleased to inform the Deputy that the average number of weeks to award a Disability Allowance claim is consistently 6 weeks which is well inside the average target processing time target for the scheme of 10 week. In October 2025, the average weeks to award for a DCA claim was 8 weeks. The Department continues to work hard to ensure we maintain this good outcome.
The Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.
Processing times vary across schemes, depending on the differing eligibility criteria. Schemes that require a high level of documentary evidence from the customer, particularly in the case of illness-related schemes, can take longer to process. Similarly, means-tested schemes can also require more detailed investigations and interaction with the customer, thereby lengthening the decision-making process.
As Disability Allowance (DA) and Domiciliary Care Allowance DCA applications are processed centrally on a date of receipt basis, the above information relating to county is not collated, therefore it is not possible to provide breakdowns of average waiting time by individual county.
To enable the Department to make timely and fair decisions on applications, applicants should ensure that they complete the application form fully and attach all the supporting documentation required as per the checklist provided on the application form. It is particularly important that an applicant provides, at the outset, all the details they have in relation to their medical conditions to best support their claim. This will eliminate the requirement for a Deciding Officer to have to revert to an applicant for clarifications or missing information and reduce the overall processing time.
An online DCA application service was introduced on https://services.mywelfare.ie/earlier this year. The quickest and easiest way to apply for Domiciliary Care Allowance is via https://services.mywelfare.ie/ where the applicant has a verified MyGovID account.
DA and DCA operational processes are continually monitored to ensure that application processing activity is maximised at all times.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
