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

I am happy to accept the amendment, not just because of the contributions that the Deputies have given - I am quite sure the gentleman Deputy Penrose spoke about got the successful outcome from his appeal because he had a good barrister looking after him - but because of two issues which it would be remiss of me not to mention.

So that everybody is absolutely clear, the contributions that Deputies have made and their wishes for what a report might look like will not arise from this report because it will specifically concentrate on financial hardship. I know where Deputy Brady is coming from but it is reflected in all of the contributions that the scope of this conversation should be much larger and wider, rather than one that is just around financial hardship because there are probably tens of thousands of people who I would not be looking towards if I were just to do a financial hardship review. We need more and the people who we all represent and think so much of probably deserve more so I am happy to accept this and there is no pushing it but I may tweak an amendment when it goes to the Seanad to go a little bit further and add other stuff to it, but I will talk to Deputy Brady about it and I will not do anything mad.

It would be remiss of me if I did not put on record how much the State values the work that carers do, not just those who get an income support from us but all of those who do it for absolutely nothing other than the love of their family member. We have strived in recent years to give three or four years of increases in the carer's allowance and the means testing element of it is there because there have to be conditions for a scheme, wherever those conditions begin. Of all of the schemes that are available to the State, the conditions for this scheme are the least onerous, but it is difficult to administer. We have worked long and hard with Care Alliance Ireland to try to bring in a new form to try to address all of the issues that the recipients are telling us about around the difficult journey of getting the carer's allowance.

We have increased the respite grant and services to carers through the carer's support grant. As recently as this week, I looked at the possibility of issuing dormant accounts money to particular carers organisations to extend the services and supports, the bereavement counselling and the back to work training that is required. We all know what is needed but it would be useful for us to put it down in one document so that we can address it line by line and find the money. It may not be found in one year because it is such a large cohort of people. As Deputy O'Dea said, it is an increasing cohort of people, therefore, it needs planning and thoughtfulness in the coming years.

On that basis, I am happy to accept the amendment, do the work and come back to the committee thereafter. We can then work towards putting a plan and a roadmap in action to look after the carers in our society who are the backbone of community and family care in this country.

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