Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister will have to accept there is a problem.

For instance, I have a constituent who looked after his elderly parents for eight years in total, and when he tried to get back into the workforce, he found there were many areas he was no longer able to work in. He had a health problem and he no longer qualified for any of the benefits because he was means tested for anything he applied for. There is a glitch in the system. Here is someone who saved the State a huge amount of money because he looked after two elderly parents for more than eight years, he probably saved the State well over €200,000 in real terms, yet when they passed away, he was penalised. He did not qualify for any other State support because he was fully means tested in terms of the income his spouse received.

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