Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----and it will not be.

I am happy to confirm that the Government announced yesterday an extra €10 million for respite care. That will provide an additional 19,000 respite nights per year for people who need it, which is an important step forward, and nine new dedicated houses for respite will be established throughout 2018, with one in each community health area. The Minister of State with responsibility for disability, Deputy Finian McGrath, from the Independent Alliance part of the Government, has done a huge amount of work on this issue and will provide more details in the coming weeks. That will be contained in the HSE's detailed operational plan, which usually comes out early in the new year.

Home-help hours and home-care packages are matters for the 2018 HSE service plan, which we hope to have ready in a few weeks' time.

It was also announced yesterday that people in receipt of carer's allowance would receive a doctor-visit card as a right. Deputies, who are familiar with the system, will know that the carer's allowance is given to full-time carers and is means tested. I cannot remember the details of the means test off the top of my head, but it is one of the more generous means tests in the social welfare system. Essentially the carer's allowance is geared to people who have had to give up a job in order to care full time. It provides income support they would not otherwise get. It is a positive announcement and an important move forward by the Government that people who are in receipt of carer's allowance will have a doctor-visit card as a right. Respite allows the person who needs care to be cared for but we also need to care for carers themselves. That is why it is important that they should be able to visit their doctor without having to pay.

This is about something I genuinely believe in, which is incremental, sustainable progress. This is not just the end; it is part of what we are doing. Last year, for example, we restored in full the respite care grant, now called the carer's support grant. We increased the carer's allowance for the first time in eight years. We also changed the rules so that when somebody is no longer caring, they continue to get the carer's allowance for 12 weeks to give them time to get their life back in order. Next year, we will announce an extra €10 million for respite, a doctor-visit card for every person receiving carer's allowance as a right and an increase in the carer's allowance again in March. In a sustainable incremental way, I want every year to do two or three significant things that improve the lives of people with disabilities and improve the lives of their carers. That is the commitment the Government is demonstrating and following through on.

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