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

I realise I sound like a broken record. The disregards are set based on budgetary parameters. The means test is probably one of the most generous in our social welfare system and one of the most generous in the European Union. What if I do a review and tell the House it will cost €1.6 billion to ensure carers have no means test?

There is not a person in this room who has a magic wand to enable them to do that, even over successive Governments or budgets. We need to have a collective conversation on the matter and the Citizens' Assembly, which starts at the end of next month, is the perfect opportunity for that. It will enable us to stand up collectively with carers, whom we all speak to on a daily basis. I know a particular group of parents of incapacitated children who get absolutely nothing from my Department and that is not fair. These women will never even qualify for a pension unless I make changes and that is not fair either. There is a whole load of unfairness in this system that needs to be ironed out. We need to recognise and care for carers in the future but it needs to be done collectively, as a society. Whatever recommendations come out of the Citizens' Assembly need to be implemented by whoever is in government after the next election.

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