Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy. I acknowledge the value of the work of carers and their commitment to the people for whom they care. The Deputy and I are well aware that this country could not afford to pay carers if it wanted to do so. There is a huge debt of gratitude owed in everything we do. To be fair to the Government and its predecessor, we have taken some small measures to try to show our gratitude. Most recently, we introduced medical cards for persons in receipt of carer's allowance and reinstated the respite care grant. We can do such small things to show our gratitude. As the Deputy suggested, the payment carers receive on a weekly basis is the real sign of our gratitude. The statistics I have are accurate. They were compiled in the past couple of days. Thankfully, they have changed. We are still a week behind, but that is only in 75% of cases. There may be 16 or 17-week cases coming to the Deputy's office. A number of years ago we had a very serious issue with applications for domiciliary care allowance. That gave rise to the establishment of a wonderful organisation, DCA Warriors, which most of us know and work with. We reformed the application process by streamlining it and making it much easier for applicants and the Department. The application process is now working well. We are in the process of doing the same in the case of carer's allowance. The application form has been changed and we are making online applications more available.

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