Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Department provides carer's allowance, which is a basic income. We do not pay people for the job they do because we could not do that. The purpose of this social protection payment is to give people a basic income for the work they do while they are off other work. There is carer's benefit and carer's allowance. Deputy Murnane O'Connor went into a number of issues, including free medication and the costs incurred in caring for somebody. Those are wider issues that fall under the Department of Health's remit. The Minister for Health is committed to establishing a commission to examine care and supports in the context of older people, in accordance with the programme for Government. I know, Deputy Murnane O'Connor knows and the other Deputies here all know that there are carers who spend a huge amount of their time caring. We really could not pay them for the work they do. The role of the Department of Social Protection is to provide people with a basic income. This discussion has been knocking around for a long time. I suggested to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development to sit down and to liaise with the disability committee to look at this conundrum of how to pay carers for the work they do. Again, some carers have a huge amount of work to do and, as we well know, there are carers whose task is a lot lighter.

It is like the cost of disability report and we must target those who are most severely affected, whether it is through disability or the amount of work they are doing as a carer. It is a discussion we must have and I have said it before. I certainly welcome any moves the committees might make in looking at this in the round in order to find a solution. I know people have said money from the fair deal scheme could be paid to somebody in the home instead of a nursing home and such people may be able to care for longer. There is a broader issue across government in that respect.

We are reviewing the carer's form and consulting different groups and stakeholders, particularly Family Carers Ireland. We have reduced the length of time it takes to process the application from 12 weeks to an average of four weeks. We speak to all groups in order to get feedback and, like the committee, they can tell us what is happening on the ground. We are certainly open to hearing other perspectives.