Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also support Deputy Naughten's amendment, which is a very reasonable proposal. The Deputy is not asking the Government to introduce discretion on the 15 hours, he is only asking it to produce a report to examine the implications. I strongly suspect that the report would find that there is a very small coterie of cases involving real hardship on the margins.

The Deputy's amendment puts me in mind of a lady who called to one of my constituency clinics last week. Medically, she would certainly qualify for the carer's allowance. The woman in question looks after a son with an extreme medical condition requiring extensive medical treatment every second week and he also attends a special school. She works every second week for 20 hours, which is all her employer is prepared to agree to, and she does not qualify for the carer's allowance because she is not working fewer than 15 hours outside the home every week. The application was rejected on those grounds and we have submitted it for appeal. It might be no harm if we pre-empted the outcome of the appeal. In this case, the period for which the lady is working is the period for which her son is receiving treatment and also while he is in school because she spends every waking moment when he is at home looking after him. He requires full-time care and attention. It is a very difficult case and is typical of one of those on the margins in respect of which discretion could be used.

The Government should proceed to compile a report because, as a result of doing so, it will discover that the number of cases involved is tiny and that the increase in expenditure necessary to cover these would be minimal. If it does as I suggest, then a great injustice would be redressed. The Minister of State should accept the amendment. It certainly will not do any damage to the Bill. In fact, it will improve the final version we pass today.

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