Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I, therefore, still do not understand the logic of cutting the entitlement to carers. This is becoming a big problem. It is getting very hard to get the invalidity pension; it is easier to get disability allowance. We have all sorts of funny anomalies coming. I do not think people can get credits for disability allowance. When we are considering the care fund in the Bill, we should consider caring credits as a big issue that affects all sorts of people. Of course, people can get full invalidity pension, which does not take that long to get as it is five years, I think. There are also reckonable years and all the rest. Once people get the pension, they automatically get the full pension even if they have only worked five years, which is fair enough. That is a great idea and fair. Kindness is fairness. I have had cases on the averaging system where people had long-term credits, and had paid their contributions to ten years. They are not going to be in a good situation, particularly if they did not have children at home.