Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are blessed with our carers. They provide 24-hour care for some of our most vulnerable citizens. They do so for a fraction of what it would cost the State to provide the same level of care. I understand it was recently estimated that it would cost approximately €4 billion a year, which is a lot of money. Carers keep tens of thousands of people out of State care and free up crucial beds for those with more urgent or life-threatening health care needs. I shudder to think what chaos the healthcare system would face if carers were not keeping thousands of beds available. We must do more for carers. The current waiting time for an application to be processed is between 16 and 18 weeks, which is nothing short of an insult. I spoke today to a number of staff members who had been following up on carer's allowance applications since 2012. They told me that the average waiting time back then was 16 weeks, which means that we are seeing no long-term improvement. This contradicts what the Minister said. The process is cumbersome and tedious. We force carers to jump through hoops and endure red tape in order to receive payments such as domiciliary care allowance and disability allowance. This is consistent across the board. Will the Minister give me a commitment that she will do everything in her power to reduce application processing times and streamline the application process for those seeking these crucial payments?

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