SOCIAL PROTECTION MINISTER Joan Burton was confronted by protesters outside the Dáil this afternoon as the Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that there are no plans to reduce the allowance paid to carers of children with severe disabilities.

Burton announced a review of the DCA in March amid complaints that families were encountering problems accessing and retaining the allowance since the administration of it was transferred from the HSE to the Department of Social Protection in 2009.

Some also fear that their receipt of a payment of €309.50 monthly is under threat from a medical review of 1,700 applications for the allowance.

Activists from the DCA Warriors group protested outside Leinster House today in the wake of the review and fears that their allowance could be cut.

During Leaders’ Questions, Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald referenced the protests and asked for an assurance that it would not be cut by the government.

“This rate has not been reduced by the government and it is not intended to reduce that,” Enda Kenny said, describing it as “serious and sensitive matter” and saying that there is no reason for any allowance to be changed “until there is a policy change, if there is a policy change”.

“There is no reason to believe in any circumstance that the domiciliary care allowance will be reduced… do I make myself clear?” he answered McDonald who has sought assurances that the DCA would not be withdrawn from any family or child.

Earlier Burton faced angry protesters outside Leinster House: