Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, well in her new role. I thank the Regional Group for bringing forward this motion, which calls on the Government to abolish the carer's allowance means test and establish a high-level working group to do the groundwork in preparing for the delivery of a non-means-tested participation income for family carers.

I have lost count of the number of times I have stood up in this House to call for a fundamental reform of the carer's allowance scheme and to ensure both the adequacy of the payment and the abolition of the means test, which I call "the mean test". In March of last year, I brought forward my own Private Member's motion calling for this fundamental reform because, at its core, the carer's allowance scheme undervalues care, with approximately one in eight recipients receiving a reduced rate and thousands of full-time family carers excluded due to the means test.

It is important the public understands that to receive the carer's allowance, you must be caring full time. It is not a case of helping someone out or getting their shopping. It is full-time care for a person who has been medically assessed as needing full-time care. The minimum number of hours is 35 per week but, in reality, it is often twice that and for some family carers it is 24-7. When you satisfy all those criteria, you receive a means-tested €248 per week, just €16 more than the basic social welfare payment. We urgently need to increase the levels of income disregard to €750 per week for a single carer and €1,500 per week for a couple in the next two budgets in order that by 2027, we will be able to introduce a non-means-tested participation income for family carers.

Care is central to how we live and how our societies function, and for far too long, family carers have carried the burden, saving the State approximately €20 billion per annum. That is equivalent to a second HSE. Family carers in Sligo save the State about €260 million every year. In Leitrim, it is €120 million; in Roscommon, €250 million; and in Donegal, €600 million. We now need as a State to support those carers by abolishing the means test and working towards a non-means-tested participation income.

See this speech in context