Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This question particularly relates to caring agencies which supply home care services and packages. Those caring agencies have difficulty in accessing staff to supply those services. It has been brought to my attention that if you take a notional week as 40 hours and a carer was allowed to work two hours per day for five days a week, rather than losing their payments for the five days, they would lose their payments for the ten hours. In other words, they would get three-quarters of their social welfare benefits and still be allowed to work as carers supplying an essential service to the community looking after people in their own communities. Making it easier for agencies to find carers would give those being cared for access to somebody they would know from their locality, allow carers to have greater self-esteem and contribute to society.

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