Mr. R?n?n Hession:

I thank the Deputy for the questions on carers. I will go through the points raised. On the 18.5 hours, I am open to correction but my understanding is that it is declared by the customer. It is not that we assess how people's hours are spent on the farm. The customer declares it to us with regard to the 18.5 hours for the carer's allowance. It is the customer who tells us.

We certainly do listen to the proceedings of the committee. We follow them with interest. I have seen what the carers' associations have said. We meet carers regularly. We have an annual carers forum, which met approximately two weeks ago. Importantly, we do not just hear from the representative organisations, which are very good at articulating issues among carers. We also hear from carers. Some of the same people who spoke to the committee spoke to us. We have heard first-hand what their experience is. It is a two-way engagement. They make presentations to us. We also have workshops with carers' groups and carers themselves. Some of the changes I outlined with regard to the means test and the 18.5 hours emerged from previous carers forums where those ideas were generated. We have very close engagement with the groups. We have an annual carers forum and they are also engaged in our pre-budget forum. The means test was increased in the previous budget, which was the first time there was an increase in 13 or 14 years.

In social welfare terms, the carer's allowance has the highest threshold for a means test. The means test for a single person on carer's allowance is €350. For those on disability allowance, it is €140. The threshold is quite high in social welfare terms. I take the point on the financial pressures that carers are under. In discussions with us they have certainly highlighted that their position with regard to outgoings is very demanding and that the costs they bear have a material bearing on their household income. I hope this answers the questions.