Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I am a member of the committee and I have been put to the end of the list - no offence to Deputy Boyd Barrett. I intended to expand on a few points. It is very clear what is the basis for being awarded a carer's allowance or a respite care grant.

People do not apply for it unless they believe they are giving that full-time care to a person, that the person needs that care and has an illness that requires full-time care in terms of putting on their clothes, feeding them, ensuring they take their pills and being there all the time to look after them, including their toiletry needs. People know that, yet they cannot get it. A negative provision has been inserted in section 3 on page 5 and it runs on to page 6. It states, "a person shall not be regarded as requiring full-time care", etc. Why is that provision included in the Bill? Why did the Minister of State and the Department see the need to change the wording and insert that and not keep the legislation in its current form as it has been since 2005?