Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In December 2012, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources described the 19% cut in the respite care grant as modest. Does the Minister for Social Protection agree with the position of the Carers Association that every euro spent on the respite care grant saves the State €5 in institutional care? Subsequent to the 19% cut, the Minister gave a commitment in the Seanad that she would review innovative ways of redressing the 19% cut. The purpose of this question is to establish whether the Minister has set work in progress to understand the impact of the 19% cut in the respite care grant on people with disabilities and families caring for them and to ask her to fulfil the commitment she gave in the Seanad subsequent to the budget to carry out this analysis of the 19% cut, which was described as modest by her colleague.

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