Domiciliary Care Allowance is a non-means-tested payment of €380 per month to a parent or guardian for a child aged up to 16 who has a severe disability. The child must require care and attention substantially over and above that required by other children their age.
Applications for DCA are decided by a Deciding Officer on an individual case by case basis, based on the details provided in the application form by the applicant and from the child’s GP / Specialist. If any additional information or supporting documentary evidence is provided with the application, this is also considered.
Parents and guardians are encouraged to apply for DCA as soon as they believe their child meets the medical eligibility criteria. If the application is disallowed initially because sufficient medical evidence is not available at the time, a review of the decision can be requested once new medical information becomes available. Applying as soon as it is believed that the child meets the criteria helps ensure the application is considered from the earliest possible date.
It is important to note that where decisions are allowed on receipt of an appeal, this may not mean that the initial decision was incorrect. A decision can be revised because the person making an appeal provides additional information that was not available when the decision was first made. In other jurisdictions appellants are not allowed to submit additional information but instead are required to submit a new application. By referring the appeal papers back to the deciding team for review, our process is more flexible and does not require a person to restart the entire application process. As a result, 1,475 (about half) of the 3,026 DCA appeals granted in 2025 and 692 (62%) of the 1,111 DCA appeals granted in the period January to May 2026 were made by way of revised decision by the scheme Deciding Officers.
DCA is a scheme that is growing at a fast pace with over 15,500 applications received in 2025 and 7,700 applications already received by the end of May this year. If we compare this figure of 7,700 applications received to the 419 cases which were allowed by an Appeals Officer this year, this equates to 5% of cases.
These figures show my Department’s efforts to ensure that as few cases as possible must go through the full appeals process.
My Department has not undertaken specific research into the costs incurred by families, including those living in rural areas, in obtaining private medical or professional assessments to support appeals in relation to DCA applications. While it is recognised that obtaining additional assessments may involve costs for some families; my Department does not require applicants to obtain private assessments, and all available evidence submitted as part of the application or appeal process is considered.
My Department keeps its processes and customer experience under ongoing review to ensure that the DCA scheme is administered in a fair and accessible manner.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
