Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ar maidin, tá cúramaithe teaghlaigh ar fud fad na tíre seo ag tabhairt aire, cuidiú agus cúram do dhaoine atá an cúram de dhíth orthu. Ní féidir luach a chur ar an obair atá idir lámha ag na cúramaithe seo. Níl dabht ar bith go gcaithfear tacú leo agus sin an rud atá os comhair na Dála inniu.

Carers have been the unsung heroes of our society for many years. Successive Governments have undervalued, or not valued at all, the half a million carers who provide much important unpaid work in caring for their loved ones. That work is an important part of our economy. Without carers, we would have a collapse of the system of care for people in our society. That system would simply break down. In many ways, carers have been the forgotten people of this pandemic. In fact, they were forgotten by the Government and undervalued and taken for granted by the State well before the pandemic ever began.

Their work and value must be recognised and this motion does just that. It commits the Government to prioritising carers in the vaccination programme, providing financial support for carers in key areas and giving respite for carers who are exhausted and need a break. Every Deputy in the House knows carers, the work they do and the needs they have for respite.

I appeal to the Minister today on behalf of carers and others like carers who are unsung heroes. We have stood in this Chamber and given rounds of applause to these key workers. No matter how bad the pandemic was, we asked these people to provide a service and ensure we could put food on the table, our loved ones were cared for, communities were safe, children were educated and children with special needs had assistance in their classroom. The Government's decision yesterday to deprioritise those individuals because it simply has not done its own work over the past year to identify those individuals was shameful. Those people were in classrooms and communities, keeping us safe and providing care for loved ones. They deserve to be prioritised in the vaccination programme. I ask the Minister to reverse the awful decision taken by the Government last night.

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