Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that, and I am not trying to drag Mr. McKeon into it. For the committee, it is about value for money. I also hear what he is saying about the support grant. However, equally there are people very much at the end of their tether, and not being financially supported means that the system will come under pressure, not on the social protection side, but on the actual care side. What we are not giving them in carer's allowance we will end up paying out, as an Exchequer, through hospitalisation, fair deal or nursing home. It is basically that people are not prepared to do this any longer. For instance, one woman put it to me that she was minding her mother in the marital home and having to be supported by her husband because of the means test. It is not policy we are going to discuss, but to my mind that is a system that is not going to last. It is demeaning. With the referendum coming up in particular we talk about lauding carers, and it actually does not make sense.