Ms Zoe Hughes:

I will answer the question on the strategic challenges that exist. I would say that it is definitely outside of the Department of Social Protection. At the various events we attend in order to advocate for change around social protection, we are often asked whether a €5 increase in a weekly payment would be what we would like or would we like an increase in funding for services across the board. Most family carers, from a strategic perspective and from experience, would say that having better services across the board would be more helpful in the long run. That is not to say that an increase in rates would not be welcome. Of course it would, particularly because of the financial challenges people face. Looking across health, education, transport and housing, however, those are all issues that family carers also struggle to manage. An extra €5 or €20 a week would obviously be welcome, but it would be better if people did not have to pay extra out of pocket for things such as transport. For example, the new scheme for transport still has not come in as a replacement for the motorised schemes. That has been going on for the past ten years. Transport is a major problem, particularly in rural areas, in the context of people who need to attend medical appointments getting access to vehicles, etc.. An increase of €5 a week will not necessarily help in that regard, but having access to transport and proper infrastructure would be extremely beneficial for so many families and carers.