Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is not acceptable to say that there is a system in place for the carer's allowance and we must work through it. As Members of the Oireachtas, we are challenged to change that. If there is a system in place that is bureaucratic and is causing undue hardship for families, we are duty bound to challenge it and ensure it is changed. Does the Government accept that the home help and home care packages, by any standard of cost-benefit analysis, provide a fantastic service to older people and families and save the State a vast amount of money? I ask the Minister to do whatever is required with the carer's allowance and medical cards. With regard to the carer's allowance, it is unacceptable that when a medical report is sent to the Department it can take six to eight weeks for it to be accepted, when any layperson can see that the person concerned is in need of full-time care and attention. It is not acceptable to say that it is the system. We must change that system, because families are under savage pressure to keep elderly relatives at home for as long as possible.

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