Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To be fair, reform of the carer's means test has been an ongoing issue. In budget 2022, the Government announced significant improvements in the means test for carer's allowance in recognition of the vital role carers play. The general weekly income disregard for carer's allowance will be increased from €332.50 to €350 for a single person and from €665 to €750 for a couple. That will enable more carers with modest incomes to become eligible for this scheme and those currently in receipt of a reduced payment may now receive a higher payment. The capital disregard will also be increased from €20,000 to €50,000 for carer's allowance. That will help carers who have accumulated relatively modest savings. These have been some of the more significant changes to the means test for carers in many years and were welcomed by carer representative groups at the time of the budget. In addition to these changes to the means test, all recipients of a weekly carer's payment will have seen a €5 increase from January and those with children will also have seen an increase in the qualified child payment.

I accept people will always want us to do more. Based on the total number of carers identified as part of census 2016-----

See this speech in context