Social Welfare Schemes

78. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Social Protection his plans to enhance application processes within the social welfare system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31290/26]

79. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Social Protection the extent to which means testing criteria for social welfare payments are kept under review for discrepancies for social welfare payments, particularly for qualified adult payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31079/26]

81. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection if he has given consideration to modernising the communications allowance to account for broadband and mobile data costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31212/26]

86. Deputy Shay Brennan asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of online applications for domiciliary care allowance since the application process moved online; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31104/26]

92. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Social Protection if he plans to change the income thresholds for those over the age of 66 in receipt of the fuel allowance, for both single individuals and couples; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31243/26]

94. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Social Protection if it is his intention to further increase income disregards for the carer’s allowance in Budget 2027; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31107/26]

95. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will consider amending the current telephone support allowance to allow for greater eligibility and increase the current weekly payment of €2.50 per week to reflect the broader availability of communication systems now other than the basic telephone, and how vulnerable people rely so much on these communication systems; and…

179. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost of a €1 increase in each social welfare and pension payment, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31194/26]

180. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost of a €1 increase in all social insurance schemes; the cost of a €1 increase in all social assistance payments, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31195/26]

183. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated cost of a €1 increase in all social welfare and pension payments; the cost of a €5 increase in all social welfare and pension payments; the cost of a €10 increase in all social welfare and pension payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31198/26]

1845. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of people who have availed of parent’s leave and parent’s benefit, and separately paternity leave and paternity benefit, since its inception per year, in tabular form. [23976/26]

330. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Social Protection the current means test thresholds eligibility for the fuel allowance of persons aged over 66 years; the thresholds applicable to a single person and a couple; whether his Department has undertaken any assessment of the appropriateness of these thresholds having regard to household heating costs and household composition; whether a…

331. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the first and full year cost of increasing the income threshold of the fuel allowance by 10%, 20% and 30% respectively, in tabular form; to provide an estimate of the number of applicants each threshold increase would incorporate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23365/26]

333. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated number of additional households that will become eligible for the fuel allowance if the weekly means test thresholds were increased by 10%, 20% and 30%, broken down by the primary social welfare payment they are in receipt of, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23367/26]

334. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will provide a copy of the most recent SWITCH model runs used to cost fuel allowance threshold adjustments; and to provide details of the assumptions used regarding recipient elasticity and income distribution. [23368/26]

335. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the first and full year cost of extending the fuel allowance by a further 13 weeks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23369/26]

336. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the first and full year cost of increasing the maximum rate of the fuel allowance by €10, €15 and €20; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23370/26]

338. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated annual cost of increasing the minimum weekly working family payment from €20 to €30, to €40, and to €50; the estimated number of households that would benefit from each increase, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23379/26]

339. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Social Protection the estimated number of additional households that would become eligible for the working family payment if the gross weekly income thresholds were increased by 10%, by 20%, and by 30%; the estimated cost of doing so, by family size, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23380/26]

438. Deputy Denise Mitchell asked the Minister for Health the reason the HSE hairpiece contribution for those with non-cancer related medical alopecia has been reduced from €770 to €500; if she will consider reinstating the full contribution for those with non-cancer related medical alopecia; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23151/26]

170. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding an application renewal (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22623/26]

657. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will review the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21446/26]

664. Deputy Keira Keogh asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of recipients of domiciliary care allowance in County Mayo; the number of applications for domiciliary care allowance that were refused in County Mayo in the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21727/26]

350. Deputy Cathy Bennett asked the Minister for Social Protection to provide the turnaround times for medical review and assessments for social welfare applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21011/26]

1143. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of carer’s allowance reviews carried out in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18376/26]