Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We want to find a pension solution for carers. Everyone in this House knows the value of the work carers do and we want to make sure they have a pension in their retirement. We appreciate there are many different types of carers: there are family carers, people who care for people who are not members of their family, carers who are in receipt of carer's allowance and carers who are not in receipt of carer's allowance. It is not an homogenous group by any means so there cannot be an homogenous solution. Some have a pension and others do not. That is why we have to look at all the complexities of this. One potential solution would be to allow people in receipt of carer's allowance to make a contribution to the State contributory pension. That is one potential solution. It requires a bit of work but we are committed to doing it.

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