Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the motion, which I support. Care work is a vocation. Carers put in hours and hours to help their loved ones and close relatives, be they young children, middle aged or elderly. Sometimes, in desperate situations, carers are looking for respite help and it is not out there. Take, for example, a child with autism whose parent is his or her carer. That parent might be looking for some place for a weekend, to get a break, and the services are not available in some parts of the country.

There is another part of this issue that needs addressing. I have seen people working in Dublin whose mother or father may get sick down in the country. Because of the respect and love such a person has for his or her mother or father, that person leaves Dublin to go home and look after his or her mother or father in his or her time of need. Such people might have a house in Dublin or a spouse who was working, which will be included in a means test. Such people will be told they cannot be in Dublin and in the west at the same time and will be refused carer's allowance. The process that has to be gone through is long and laboured, especially if an application is refused and must be appealed. It goes on and on. Do we not realise that such people are saving the State money by going to look after their loved ones? They may have given up a job and a life to do that in parts of the country but the State shows no respect for that. I ask the Minister of State to ensure this is addressed. I fully support the motion of the Labour Party.

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