Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the debate and appreciate the Senators’ having put forward the motion. In many ways, as the Minister will be well aware, carers are the backbone of this country given the care and support they provide for their loved ones. As that takes a huge toll, the Government has an important role in supporting carers to give the care they want to give. There are many cases where that care can become a huge burden, and there must be supports to ensure that does not happen, such as through respite or a proper carer's allowance. I acknowledge all the work the Minister and the Department have been doing, and it is certainly good to see the various schemes that are in place. About 120,000 carers benefit from regular income supports, which are very important.

Nevertheless, we need to reconsider the means testing of carers, an issue I raised at our Fianna Fáil budget discussion with the Minister for Finance and the Tánaiste. Many people who do not qualify because of the means test have given up their own employment because they had to, and family and family income suffer because of that. To give a case in point, about which I might speak privately to the Minister after the debate, one lady on whose behalf I am working had to walk out of work halfway through the day because her mother had had an accident and had become incapacitated, so she had to bring her to her home. What is more, the lady’s sister has an intellectual disability, so she also had to come to live in her home. In such an example, where there is only one source of income but two new people have been added to the family, it is very difficult for a number of reasons. The loss of income is a huge problem when two additional people need care and support, and there is also a financial burden. Such cases reflect the lived experiences of carers and show how any of our lives can change overnight as a result of something happening.

It is generally said that carer's allowance is a support for carers on low incomes who live with and look after people who need full-time care and attention, but I think that is wrong. The care element should not dictate the eligibility or the allowance. Regardless of the income that comes into a home, Government support in the form of the carer's allowance is very important. It should not be that people on what is often just an average wage or salary are considered ineligible despite providing care for a family member, whether that is a parent, a sibling or a child. That is crucial.

From the perspective of the women’s caucus, we are looking forward to having debates in the Dáil and Seanad soon after we return from the recess regarding the national carers' strategy, which, as the Minister will know, has not been updated since 2011. The present strategy relates just to family members but there are also a lot of professional carers, who are very important in the scheme. It needs to be updated to reflect that and to cover the many types of support mechanisms that are needed. I appreciate respite does not come within the Minister's remit but, as I raised at our party's budget meeting, we need to have more funding for respite. While staff are one part of it, physical buildings are also very important. Families are really struggling and are at the end of their tether. For example, in the case of the family I mentioned earlier, they have had only one respite session of two days in the past three months and they got the call about two hours before it was to happen. There needs to be regular and consistent respite, but it also needs to be prearranged and organised and everybody needs to feel comfortable about it, not least the person who is receiving the respite, in order to be prepared for it.

I fully acknowledge the work that is being done, but we need to look at ensuring the carer's allowance will not be means tested. Carers should get more than they do at the moment. I would appreciate if the Minister would take that into consideration in her Department's negotiations in advance of the budget.