Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I take on board the points made by the Deputy. As part of our State pension reforms, I am committed to providing a pension to our long-term carers. We are doing a lot of work to support carers, which is absolutely right because they do wonderful work. I take on board the points the Deputy has made regarding carer's benefit. All benefit payments are time-bound. I will discuss the points he has made with my officials. As Minister for Social Protection, my number one aim is to keep people out of poverty. In order to start to pay carers for the work they do, there needs to be a discussion with the Department of Health on the role played by carers.

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