Department of Social Protection

The Department of  Social Protection (DSP) is tasked with administering the welfare system. It oversees the provision of income support and other social services.

DSP provides a range of payments for people with a physical and/or mental health conditions:

• Illness Benefit, a payment made to people under 66 years who are unable to work because of illness.
• Invalidity Pension, a social insurance payment that may be paid to people who cannot work because of a long-term illness or disability.
• Disability Allowance, a means-tested payment for someone with a disease or physical and mental disability of at least one year’s duration.
• Blind Pension, a means tested payment paid to blind and visually impaired people normally living in Ireland.
• Treatment Benefit Scheme, a scheme that provides dental, optical and aural services to people with the required number of PRSI contributions.
• Occupational Injuries Scheme provides a range of benefits for people injured or incapacitated by an accident at work or while travelling directly to or from work
• Injury Benefit is a weekly payment made to employees who are unfit for work as a result of an accident at work or because they have contracted a disease due to the type of work they do.
• Disablement Benefit is a payment as a result of an accident at work or a prescribed disease contracted at work, where the person suffers a loss of a physical or mental faculty.
• Medical Care Scheme provides a refund of medical costs in cases where an insured employee is injured at work or contracts a prescribed occupational disease
• Domiciliary Care allowance is a monthly payment made to the carer of a child with a severe disability who lives at home.
• Partial Capacity Benefit is a scheme to support people on Illness Benefit or Invalidity Pension who want to return to work

DSP also provides payment to carers under the following schemes:

• Carer’s Allowance is a means-tested payment to people on low incomes who are caring for an incapacitated person
• Half-rate Carer’s Allowance is payable with certain other social welfare payments under specific qualifying criteria.
• Carer’s Benefit is a social insurance payment made to someone who gives up work to care for an incapacitated person
• Carer’s Support Grant is an annual cash payment to carers.
• A Domiciliary Care Allowance is a monthly payment made to the carer of a child with a severe disability who lives at home

How to access: Contact local Social Welfare Branch Office/Intreo Centre. (See main DSP entry)

Geographic remit: Co. Tipperary