November 18 2009

Parliamentary Questions

• Tax relief on private tuition
• Responsibility and expenditure of Dept. of Justice on Disability Strategy
• Funding for Sports Inclusion Officer
• Funding for Sports Inclusion Officer
• Entitlement to Domiciliary Care Allowance

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS

• Tax relief on private tuition

Deputy Willie Penrose (L): asked the Minister for Finance, in circumstances when a child has been diagnosed with dyslexia by a psychologist from the Department of Education and Science with a reading ability of 4% and IQ of 85%, whereby in these circumstances the parents have been advised to look at private tuition and typing courses for dyslexic children, which costs approximately €260 per month and where they have to purchase a laptop with special software and where they also pay €750 for a special course to help the child, if they would be entitled to tax relief for this expenditure;

Minister for Finance (Deputy Brian Lenihan): The position is that there is no provision in tax law to allow relief for expenses relating specifically to the education or instruction of children with dyslexia. Nor would income tax relief be available for the purchase of a laptop and software, as these items are not medical, surgical, dental, or nursing appliances. Full details of the types of expenditure which qualify for relief under the heading of health expenses relief are available on the Revenue website at: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it6.html. I should point out that in recent years the Government has increased significantly the supports available through the direct expenditure system for children with disabilities. In 2005, approval was given for the Department of Education and Science to move from individual allocation of resource teaching support for children with special needs, on foot of a psychological assessment, to an approach whereby all mainstream primary schools are allocated resources based on their enrolment without the need for individual psychological assessments for the high incidence categories of need, such as dyslexia and mild general learning disability. In all, it is projected that, of the total budget of the Department of Education and Science of almost €9.5 billion, over €1 billion is allocated across services for special needs. As with many areas where State support may be required, the question arises as to whether such support may be more effectively provided through the direct expenditure route rather than through the tax system. One advantage of the former mechanism is that the support may be better targeted at those in need, irrespective of family income, whereas support through the tax system can only benefit those whose incomes are high enough to benefit from tax relief. 

• Responsibility and expenditure of Dept. of Justice on Disability Strategy

Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the responsibility his Department has in the national disability strategy; the amount expended on this strategy to date in 2009;

Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Deputy John Moloney): The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform co-ordinates Governmentpolicy on the National Disability Strategy and provides the Secretariat to both the SeniorOfficials Group on Disability and the National Disability Strategy Stakeholder MonitoringGroup. The Department of the Taoiseach chairs both Groups. Each relevant GovernmentDepartment is responsible for its own expenditure on disability. The Department of Justice,Equality and Law Reform has been allocated €2.66 million for expenditure under this headingin 2009 and expenditure to date is under €2 million. 

• Funding for Sports Inclusion Officer

Deputy Brian O’Shea (L): asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if he will continue the funding for the sports inclusion disability officer for Waterford for all of 2010;

Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism (Deputy Martin Cullen): Special funding of €2.5 million was allocated from the dormant accounts fund for the appointment of 20 Sports Inclusion Development Officers (SIDOs) in Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) in 2008. The SIDOs were appointed on two-year contracts to provide opportunities for persons with a disability to participate in sport and physical activity. A network of 33 LSPs have been set up throughout the country by the Irish Sports Council (ISC) to coordinate and promote sport at local level especially amongst specific target groups such as older people, girls and women, people with disabilities, unemployed people, and those who live in identified disadvantaged communities. The special dormant accounts funding was in addition to the annual funding provided to the LSPs by the ISC for programmes and initiatives aimed at increasing participation in recreational sport. The ISC has allocated €6 million to the LSPs in 2009. The continuation of the SIDO scheme from 2010 will be dependent on negotiations on the 2010 Estimates. 

• Funding for Sports Inclusion Officer

Deputy John Deasy (FG): asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if the sports inclusion disability officer programme will continue to receive funding under the dormant accounts scheme when the current funding arrangements expire in February 2010;

Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív): Special funding of €2.5 million was allocated from the Dormant Accounts Fund, through the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, the lead Department for this measure, for the appointment of 20 Sports Inclusion Development Officers in Local Sports Partnerships in 2008. I would draw the Deputy’s attention to the response by my colleague, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, to question 171 on Thursday 5 November 2009 on the matter raised. 

• Entitlement to Domiciliary Care Allowance

Deputy Willie Penrose (L): asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if a young child who has been diagnosed with dyslexia by her departmental psychologists, and where their reading is just 4% and their IQ is 85%, is entitled to domiciliary care allowance; the criteria which applies in such a case;

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Deputy Mary Hanafin): The transfer of the Domiciliary Care Allowance scheme from the Health Service Executive to this Department arises from a Government decision on 28th February 2006 to reallocate certain functions between Departments and Agencies as part of the health service reform programme. The Domiciliary Care Allowance scheme is now a statutory scheme with the primary legislation provided for in the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2008. As there were no agreed national medical guidelines for the scheme while it was administered in the Health Service Executive, an Expert Medical Group was established in advance of the transfer of functions. This Group was chaired by the Department’s Chief Medical Advisor and comprised of senior medical personnel from the HSE as well as eminent professionals in the areas of physical disabilities which affect children, and child psychiatry/psychology. This report was reviewed independently by external medical experts. The primary purpose of this Group was to agree a set of consistent and objective guidelines for use in determining eligibility of children for Domiciliary Care Allowance. The Group considered that the most appropriate way for the Department to conduct assessments for medical eligibility was by assessing evidence submitted by the claimant rather than by way of individual examination by the Department’s Medical Assessors as they are not involved in advice or treatment of the child. The new process in operation in the department involves the submission of a detailed statement by the parent or guardian of the child; a detailed statement by the child’s General practitioner; and any other relevant evidence from qualified experts who have examined the child.

In order to qualify for Domiciliary Care Allowance a child must have a disability so severe that it requires the child needing care and attention and/or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. This care and attention must be given by another person, effectively full-time so that the child can deal with the activities of daily living. The child must be likely to require this level of care and attention for at least 12 months. Eligibility for Domiciliary Care Allowance is not based primarily on the medical or psychological condition, but on the resulting lack of function of body or mind necessitating the degree of extra care and attention required. Each application is assessed on an individual basis taking account of the evidence submitted. As such it is not possible to say, in general, if a child with dyslexia or any other intellectual disability will qualify for a payment under the scheme. In the case of an application which is refused on medical grounds, the applicant may submit additional information and/or ask for the case to be reviewed by a different Medical Assessor specially designated for this task. Where a person is not satisfied with the decision of a Deciding Officer they may appeal the decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office.

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