Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We need to address anomalies across schemes and this is one such anomaly where it is 18.5 hours for carers and 19.5 hours for the community employment and rural social schemes. Having said that, for the specific cohort of people I am talking about, the person who is being cared for is not in their home - they are in day care, a training centre or school. If one takes the example of a disabled child who is in primary school, the child is out of the home for a minimum of 5 hours and 40 minutes every single day. That is 28 hours per week. We are saying it is okay for that carer to remain at home and sit looking at four walls in order to draw down the carer's allowance but they cannot go out for 20 hours per week to work and to engage with people in their own community. There is something fundamentally wrong with that system. There needs to be discretion on the 18.5 hour threshold.

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