Why SupportCheck exists
Help in Ireland is spread across government departments, local authorities, public bodies, community organisations and specialist services. The information may be available, but finding the right route can still mean searching several websites, understanding unfamiliar terms and answering the same questions repeatedly.
SupportCheck is being built to bring that journey together. Its purpose is not to copy official websites or replace the people who make official decisions. Its purpose is to understand a person's or business's situation, identify relevant possibilities, explain why they appeared and connect the user to the correct official source, calculator, service or adviser.
How it works
The main journey begins with a normal question, such as “I work 30 hours a week, earn €520 and have two children. What could I check?” The guided AI identifies only the facts needed to understand the request and asks relevant follow-up questions. It can then direct the user to the right support route or controlled calculator.
The AI does not decide eligibility, invent payment rates or calculate an award. Structured rules and calculation tools produce those results using sourced criteria. Where the available facts are not enough for a safe answer, SupportCheck says so and directs the user to the responsible body or a qualified person.
Who it is for
SupportCheck is intended for all walks of life, including:
- individuals, couples and families;
- people in work, looking for work, studying or approaching retirement;
- parents, carers, older people and people affected by illness or disability;
- people facing housing, mortgage, debt, health or household-cost difficulties;
- new arrivals to Ireland and members of the Traveller community;
- self-employed people, businesses at every stage and farming households; and
- staff or advisers helping someone by telephone or in person.
What it brings together
The platform is designed to navigate across social-welfare payments, tax credits and reliefs, family and childcare support, housing and council services, health costs, disability and caring supports, education and training, employment, debt and mortgage help, new-arrival services, business grants and finance, farming schemes and other national, local and community supports.
Coverage is published honestly. A support is not presented as fully calculated unless its rules have been structured and tested. Every result should show its reason, source and review status so the user can see the evidence behind it.
Private by design
A public support check does not require an account, a PPS number, a real name or a home address. SupportCheck asks about circumstances only when they are relevant to the result. It does not submit an application or make a decision on behalf of a public body.
Organisations may receive anonymous, minimum-threshold statistics about broad support needs and completed journeys. They should not receive an employee's or resident's private answers through the public checker.
For councils, public services and employers
SupportCheck can be offered as a branded pilot or licensed support navigator. Councils and community organisations can add approved local services and help residents find national and local routes in one journey. Employers can offer the same private front door to their workforce without receiving an individual's personal answers or influencing the results.
The value is the guided journey: less searching, more consistent signposting, clearer evidence and safer hand-offs. A commercial relationship must never change which support is shown or how eligibility rules are applied.
The standards we are building around
- Accuracy before scale: source, structure, test and review rules before relying on them.
- Rules control outcomes: AI understands the conversation; controlled logic decides what can safely be shown.
- No guessing: missing or ambiguous facts lead to another question or an official hand-off.
- Evidence beside results: show the source, effective date and limits of a calculation.
- Accessibility and inclusion: use plain language and build for different abilities, languages, devices and levels of digital confidence.
- Independence: no paid placement and no commercial influence over guidance.
Where the project stands
SupportCheck is an independently developed platform preparing for controlled pilot use. The software, guided journey, support library, calculation tools and organisation features are in active development. Before people are asked to rely on each high-impact calculation, it must complete the appropriate policy, accessibility, privacy, security and representative-user review.
SupportCheck provides guidance, not a guarantee of entitlement. Government departments, councils and other responsible bodies make all final decisions.