Martin forced into embarrassing climbdown

HEALTH Minister Micheál Martin has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown over penny-pinching proposals aimed at the parents of severely disabled children.

A fury-fuelling department circular to those claiming domiciliary care allowance (DCA) informing them the payment would no longer be backdated to the time of diagnosis of their child’s condition has been spiked. The cruel circular informed parents that their monthly 179.80 payment for severely disabled children cared for in the home would instead be dated from the time the application was received.

However, this proved to be a shock, not only for the parents applying for DCA, but for Mr Martin, who had not given the proposal his seal of approval. The minister, who is on holidays with his family at present, is understood to have exchanged angry words with his department officials over the embarrassing error.

Mr Martin has called a meeting of health board representatives and department officials in a determined bid to clear up any misunderstanding that might remain.

The payment, the minister has pledged, will be payable from the time the relevant senior area medical officer had confirmed the child’s condition.

In other words, the payment will be backdated to the time of diagnosis of the child’s condition, a spokesman for the department said.

There was widespread outrage among disability support groups in the immediate wake of the erroneous July 26 circular.

It did not take long for the outrage to be laid at the minister’s feet by lobbyists for disability groups. Consequently, the minister made it lucidly clear that the had not authorised any such radical change to the DCA.

He instructed the relevant officials at the department to redress the matter as he set about counter-acting what was shaping up to be political fallout of a serious nature.

In his scheduled meeting with health boards and officials from his department, the minister will also address the administration of the DCA. The National Association for the Mentally Handicapped (NAMH) wants the DCA, as administered by the health boards, to be transferred from the Department of Health to that of Social and Family Affairs.“At the moment, there are huge variations across the health boards in the interpretation of eligibility for the DCA,” said NAMH general secretary Deirdre Carroll.