Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The financial supports available to carers in Ireland are among the highest rates of income support in Europe. Expenditure on carers has increased significantly in recent years and it is estimated the overall expenditure for 2014 will be €806 million, which is €4.6 million higher than the expected outturn for 2013. This does not include the value of other welfare payments, which more than 24,900 recipients of half-rate carer's allowance also receive. This would bring the amounts involved up to well in excess of €1 billion.

I fully appreciate the important and difficult role carers undertake in this country and that carers need our support. The annual respite care payment is a single lump sum with no requirement to satisfy a means test. There is no equivalent payment for carers in any other country in Europe. Almost €120 million was spent on the respite care grant in 2013.

In framing budgetary adjustments, the primary concern has been to protect primary social welfare rates. To protect the core weekly payments which people receive, including disability payments, pensions and carer's allowance, the Government in 2013 had to look very carefully at other additional payments, including the respite care grant. One of the main findings of the budget 2013 social impact assessments was that the principal welfare and direct tax measures in that budget did not lead to any significant change in the at-risk-of-poverty rate. This confirms the continuing strong poverty reduction effect of social transfers during a period of very difficult fiscal consolidation.

See this speech in context