Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am coming and going because I was in the Chamber for oral questions. This is one of the biggest issues I, like all Deputies and Senators, face in my clinics. A response to a parliamentary question I tabled states that at present there are more than 400 family carers who are over 80 years of age. I have concerns about that because I do not know if it is sustainable. I understand the Minister's commitment. I have worked with many people on this. I will outline the way I see the system in general, having dealt with the people I deal with in my offices. I refer to people with a disability or elderly people in hospital settings. As the Minister will know, it is very hard to get respite care and so on. When they come home, I tell the family member caring for the person, "You may apply for a carer's payment but you will have to do what you do every day." That is fine. I sit down and go through everything with them. Most people do it themselves. They are more than capable of doing so. I see a lot of refusals, however. I urge those people to resubmit their applications because they are doing the work of caring for that person with a disability. That needs to be addressed. I feel that the system is broken in general. This is not within just the Minister's remit. I am aware of the funding she has put in and I welcome it. I brought this up with her the other day.

I will outline to the Minister one issue, however. I work with people with disabilities on housing adaptation grants. I find they are so costly now that the people who want them cannot afford them. Is there any way people claiming carer's payments or people with disabilities could get extra help with those grants? I know one lady who badly needs a bathroom adaptation grant but who cannot make up the difference. I find that that is becoming a huge issue in society. People are no longer getting the grants. A lot of funding has been given to local authorities in the past two years. There should be some lenience in respect of the grants, particularly for people with disabilities or people who are elderly and who need them. They are means-tested and must pay a certain amount. All the Departments need to look at that.

Is there anything we can do to help carers? Is there any way we could look at widening the list of people with long-term illnesses, for example, who are eligible? Are there any grants in that regard? Can we look at free medication? One of the biggest issues I have - it constantly comes into my office - is VAT on incontinence products. A significant number of people have to buy them but cannot afford them. A significant number of people ring me telling me they simply cannot afford those products. We need to address these things. That seems to be where we are falling down. It is the little things that could make the difference.

My sister works seven days a week as a carer and loves it. If she were in a full-time job, she would be on three times the money she is on, but she loves her job. She gets that from my mother. People are very appreciative of what they get, but the reality is that carer's benefit and carer's allowance are there to keep people in their homes in order that they are not in respite or hospital settings that will not be able to cater for them, nursing homes or other such settings. Overall, there seems to be a broken system that needs to be addressed.

In 2021 I tabled a parliamentary question about carer's allowance. The Minister replied that, in 2021, the number of applications received was 312, the number of applications cleared was 374 and the number of applications refused was 150. I tabled a similar question previous to that one. I do not know whether half of them are appeals. I do not know what happened in the system. I deal with the carer's allowance regularly. I can only say that the staff on the other line are absolutely put to the pin of their collar with the work they do. They have always been most kind and gracious on the phone. Truthfully, though, the biggest issue is that they keep requesting further information, further information and further information. It might not be a doctor's letter. It could be that a signature was wrong and that the applicant might have to send it back such that the application is in the system for weeks and weeks. A date of birth could be left out. It could be the personal public service, PPS, number. There might be one digit wrong. Is there any way we could consider phone calls telling people what is wrong and asking them to fill out and send in the required documentation? Instead, the whole application comes back and has to be redone. Payments are made from the time of application. Appeals may be made within 21 days. You get your full money back once you get your carer's allowance. I mean that. They are very good with that. The social welfare team in my area, Carlow, is excellent if people are waiting on payments or if there are any disability payments to be made.

We need to look at the bigger picture. I know that the Minister is dedicated to that. It seems that people with disabilities are living longer, which is great, but I do not know if the system is catering for that at present. Again, I am aware of the hard work the Minister is doing. She might come back to me with the answers to some of those questions. I apologise for having been late. I do not know if any of those questions have been asked already.