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

I thank the Deputy for her comments but I do not agree with most of them. She has selectively picked out everything she could and tried to point out that it is wrong. I am very proud of what I have done in this Department since I came here just one and a half years ago. In our first budget for 2021, I increased the carer's support grand to the highest level ever of €1,850. That was paid in June to all carers. This year, in 2022, which is the second budget that I have headed up in the Department, I have reformed the carer's allowance means test in respect of the capital disregard. The disregard went from €20,000 to €50,000. This is the first time it had been changed in years. The weekly income went up to €350 per week up for a single person, and €750 per week for a couple. That kicks in during June. This means that a person could have €50,000 in the bank, each person could be earning €350 per week and they would still get the carer's allowance of up to €224 per week. When we make our decision on the pensions commission report, it is a priority for me to provide a pension for carers. That is just one issue.

On the medical information, it is the doctor who fills that in. We are not asking the applicant to fill it. We have found that the main reason an application is turned down is the medical information has not been provided. Then, most people go back to the doctor, get clarification, and then it is processed again. I have seen this in my constituency office and I am sure the Deputy has seen it in hers too. When the correct medical information goes in, the application can be approved. A decision cannot be made on an application, however, if one does not have the information. Again, it the medic who completes that, not the applicant. We have also simplified the application form to make it easier for people to complete.

We are not in the business of putting barriers in front of people accessing supports. Just to be clear, we are here to help people and we have done that through the pandemic with almost €9 billion worth of supports. For the Deputy to say that we are trying to put obstacles in the way of people getting their payments, their entitlements or their supports is absolutely wrong and I can stand over that as I sit here and talk about staff in social protection. They are there to help. I have met them. I was in Sligo where there are more than 600 staff employed. I met with the staff and each one of them is there to help people. That is what they do and that is what we are here to do also to make sure that people get the support they need, when they need it, especially people with disabilities.

I will give the Deputy some information on the appeals that she mentioned. There were 28,158 decisions made. Of those,13,289 were granted with 10,500 granted on the first attempt and processed straight away. There were 5,575 appeals out of the 28,000, and 2,712 of those were allowed. Some people do not qualify for the disability allowance, for whatever reason. The terms and conditions are clearly set out. We have changed some of the conditions, and we will continue to look at them to see what we can do. We must, however, put things into perspective here. We have limited resources. We continue to review all of these issues coming up to the budget and I will continue to do that. I will also continue, with my officials, to engage with the disability sector, which I have done in the past, and I will continue to do so in the future.

The Deputy referred to the €208 payment. It is the basic payment but she is not including the household benefits. Many of them also get the fuel allowance, others get the free travel, and of course there is the medical card. There are a number of other supports out there, but we want to do more and we will continue to do more.

I accept the EUROSTAT estimates. We have targets to reduce this in the roadmap for social inclusion and we will continue to work on all of those issues, and do everything we can to support people with disabilities. The most important thing I want is to try to help people who can go back to work to do so. This empowers them and gives them an income. It gives people an independence, which is what we want to provide. There is huge support available for employers who take on people with disabilities. I want to highlight this more. Perhaps this committee could also use the Deputy's good offices to tell people what is available, help them take up those supports, and encourage them to work through the EmployAbility Service. I have met with people who work in that service and the EmployAbility Service sometimes provides that connection between the employer and the employee. I heard of a particular case where an employee could not going to work on a Friday because he had to attend an addiction service. He did not know how he was going to tell his employer, and he was not going to go back to work because of that. He was able to go to somebody within the EmployAbility Service who was able to have that conversation and sort out that problem. Every Friday morning thereafter he got whatever number of hours he needed to attend the addiction service. These are the things we need to do. We need to work together to alleviate some of these problems, to help people and to empower them to get back to work.

I believe I have addressed most of the Deputy's issues.