Ms Niamh O'Donoghue:

It does not take so long. We discussed this matter earlier. The current waiting time for carer's allowance is approximately 14 weeks or slightly more than three months. There are a couple of different elements to the process. Carer's allowance is a complicated scheme because it has a means assessment element and we also need to satisfy ourselves that the applicant is required to give full-time care and attention to whomever the care recipient may be. We need to have a medical case for the level of care. While I am sure people in receipt of the benefit will not necessarily agree, relative to other social welfare payments, carer's allowance is a generous income support not alone because of the level of payment, but also because of the conditions that apply. People can have earnings outside of their caring duties to quite a generous level compared to other social welfare payments. From our point of view, we have to be careful that we are providing payments to people who meet the eligibility criteria.