Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this motion to the House. It is very important that we get an opportunity to discuss in detail the contribution that our carers and family carers give to the people that they care for and to society as a whole.

Covid-19 has been a disrupter for us all but especially for carers who look after people with underlying health conditions, with severe illness, and people who are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of this pandemic. Ireland has changed so much since Covid-19 arrived on our shores a little over a year ago but for our family carers the change has been monumental. Any supports that may have been there for them previously by way of health supports for those that they are caring for, or perhaps opportunities for respite, have diminished if not totally disappeared. Many people who need the support of a carer have seen their healthcare diminish in the past year and younger people have seen their own progress regress. This type of regression has been very hard for carers to witness over the past year.

Family carers have played a role of great significance in lessening the spread of Covid-19. This can probably never be quantified, such is its size, and their support for the Irish health system is unbelievable. When services were shut down or curtailed family carers continued to care around the clock to ensure that loved ones stayed safe and at home and that they stayed out of hospital.

According to a survey published by Family Carers Ireland last May, 74% of family carers felt that the Government had not responded well to the needs of family carers during the initial stages of the pandemic. I imagine that that figure has not gone down but has gone up. Carers remain greatly worried about the lack of contingency planning should family carers themselves have to self-isolate. Many simply do not have anyone else to take over their caring responsibilities.

Our party has always been a strong advocate for carers and it is very clear in our party that we need to address the outstanding issues impacting the daily lives and well-being of carers, such as the means testing attached to eligibility. We also ask the Government to conduct a study of the income and living costs of carers to ensure that income supports are sufficient for all carers to attain a decent minimum standard of living. No carer should have to live in poverty while providing such an essential service for their loved one and for the State.

The Labour Party has sought to give a voice to carers, as all too often people who care for a loved one do so in isolation while facing a daily struggle. That is why we need a national carers strategy that recognises the value of carers and what they contribute. It must recognise how much the State benefits from them and how much carers save the State. It is difficult to quantify how many carers there are in Ireland at any one time. We all know at least one person who is providing full-time care to a loved one and it is very likely that we know more than one such person.

In 2020 the Irish Health Survey 2019 study by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, estimated that one in eight people aged over 15 is a family carer and that this will increase to one in four by 2030, given the ageing demographic of our country.

This is not just a cohort of our society. This is our society. We are a society and nation of carers but our policy does not reflect that.

A 2020 report, A Study of Young Carers in the Irish Population by NUI Galway, has shown a significant increase in the number of people under the age of 18 who are providing regular care to adults in their families. The report estimates that up to 67,000 children are in caring role roles right now, which represents 13.3% of young people in Ireland, that is, one in eight. These brilliant young people have taken on a role that is far beyond their years and they need proper support from the State. When we speak about carers we are referring to people who work daily to ensure that someone else can meet his or her basic need or function in daily life.

There is no greater work done. People become carers in different ways. Sometimes it is because of an accident or the onset of a condition that requires care. In other cases the process is gradual, perhaps because of a health issue as a result of a physical disability, dementia or something else. This is why it is so important as a society that we and the State recognise the existence of carers as a distinct, unique and plentiful group in the country.

Carers do not want our sympathy and they do not want our pity. They also do not want to be put on a pedestal or canonised. They are ordinary people working to care for their loved ones without the support they desperately need and deserve. Carers are people who have chosen to look after their loved ones and they need that help. What they want and deserve is respect. They need practical help. More importantly, what they often need is acknowledgement of their role, which is often disregarded. This is why the motion is so important. This is what the State should be doing and how the State should intervene. It is what the State has to do better.

Carers need respite. Some may need support and some may need training. Some need downstairs bathrooms at a critical time or an extension to ensure that there are bed facilities. The delays that occur through the local authority infrastructure can last for years, just weeks or months, and this gives rise to further despair and discomfort for those who operate as carers and those who need care. No matter what side of the House we are on, we can all agree that the system is cumbersome to try to navigate. Absolutely everything is a fight and there is always a long list. Everything lacks transparency and, fundamentally, there is a lack of decency. It is no wonder that our carers are at breaking point. Some feel absolutely burnt out and exhausted but they cannot take a day off. They cannot even take an hour off. They have to continue working and caring because they are doing so for someone they love in order to ensure that person does not have to attend a primary care facility or a hospital. This is why we need a new carer's strategy with short, medium and long-term perspectives.

As a society, we must make a strong and unambiguous statement of solidarity and appreciation regarding the work done by all carers but it must be followed up with a resource strategy that can be implemented as soon as possible. We need to say to carers loud and clear that they are not alone and that they are cherished, and this needs to be backed up. As a decent democratic society we should commit to working together to ensure that people who need care receive all the support they can be given and that those who provide care will be valued and assisted. We must also ensure that carers receive paid leave. Five days of paid leave would not be too much to ask. It would be a bare minimum.

The existing system of State support is too rigid and there are too many rules. The requirements are unnecessarily onerous and restrict people's ability to balance care with work, study, paid work or caring for their families. Too many carers are suffering burnout, as we in this House have all witnessed, and serious ill-health caused by the stress and strain of their care work. These proposals must be implemented.

We are learning an awful lot from this pandemic. We are learning an awful lot about what our health system is capable of, or indeed what it is not capable of. People and workers are extending themselves beyond levels they never thought they could. Carers are doing the job they have always done. They have always had to extend themselves 100% every day. We cannot let the pandemic pass without ensuring we finally and fully acknowledge this and support them with a proper strategy of care. We should treat them with the decency and respect they deserve. Too many carers are suffering from burnout. Too many are living on or below the poverty line. This is something we cannot stand over as a State. It is fundamentally indecent and must change. I thank the proposers of the motion and I look forward to hearing the rest of the debate.

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