Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to start with the report on "Morning Ireland" this morning about the Emily case. I refer to Ailbhe Conneely's reporting on RTÉ. The report was clear that the national independent review panel stated that none of the very distressing incidents in that case were followed up in accordance with HSE safeguarding policy. I do not want to go too much into the detail of it, for obvious reasons, because it is so distressing. It speaks to the lack of legislation for safeguarding policy for older people. In her reply, could the Minister refer specifically to that case if she is able to? We acknowledge the fact that Bernard Gloster has been front and centre on this. I imagine that Bernard Gloster has spoken with the Minister in respect of this case. It points to the overdue, dire need for safeguarding legislation to protect older people. This motion is effectively about older people. Could the Minister give us some reassurance that there would be legislation underpinning the safeguarding of older people in the way that we have robust legislation that underpins the safeguarding of children? That would be a good day's work.

There is a report on this from 2019 by the Law Reform Commission. Our own party proposed legislation on this in the Seanad in 2017. I welcome this motion. It is a good motion because it captures the issue of care for older people in Ireland today, what their needs are, and some solutions.

Looking at the census figures, we see that the population aged 65 and older will continue to rise steadily and will increase by more than 50% by 2051. That presents all of us with a clear challenge with regard to what care for older people will look like today and in the future. We have to continue to engage with organisations like, for instance, Family Carers Ireland. We have to engage with reports that they issue because they are at the coalface now and are in tune with the challenges that face older people.

I refer to the State of Caring report and its detail on participation income. There are some stark findings based on interactions with people who avail of State services relating to care. They speak to the issue of those people who are carers. I want to speak for carers today. They want home support to be put on a statutory footing. That argument has been going around for a long time now. We wait to hear the timeline for that from the Minister. The report states that 24% of carers experienced a delay or a reduction in the delivery of home care support hours or packages due to the shortage of home care workers. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has already quoted to us the number of home care hours that are delivered in a given year. The hours are significant and are increasing.

We have still not solved the problem. It is a question of how we solve that problem in a society where we want people to be cared for in their home. How do we fast forward to a point where, when somebody is given an allocation, that allocation is made immediately, with the package being tailored in accordance with the particulars of a household or a person's needs? The Minister of State has heard chapter and verse on individual cases from all of us today. There are particular circumstances and restrictions on how the package is tailored for the individuals' needs. That is needed.

We also have to tackle some shibboleths relating to the means test for the carer's allowance. I know it is not necessarily the line Department of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. Family Carers Ireland does surveys and research. Some 47% of carers who participated in the 2022 State of Caring survey live in households with a gross income of less than €30,000 per year. Almost one in four live in households with a total income of less than €20,000. By comparison, 18% of the general population live in households with a gross income of less than €20,000. When asked about their ability to cope financially, more than two in three, or 68%, of carers said they find it hard to make ends meet. More than one in ten carers, or 13%, are in arrears with their rent or mortgage. Some 16% are in arrears with utility bills. By comparison, 7% of the general population in Ireland were in arrears with their rent or mortgage payments and 8% were in arrears with utility bills in 2020.

I know the carer's allowance is a matter for the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, but the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, will have an interest in it. Carer's allowance was introduced in 1990. It is outmoded, outdated and anachronistic. When we look at the Central Statistics Office figures for the projections arising from the census in respect of where the population or demographic growth is now, particularly the number of over-65s who will be living in Irish society in 2051, and at the number of people who will require care in the home, we see that thee needs to be a fundamental overhaul of payments like the carer's allowance to reflect the realities of Irish society today. We need to dispense with these anachronistic payments. Not everybody can benefit from them.

In my experience as a typical constituency Deputy who does the ground-turning and hard cases for people, I see that more often than not, people are kicked out of a system if there is an increase in income in the household. The means test, income regards and all of that need to be overhauled. If we truly value care and caring for people in their home, and if we value a system of payment like the carer's allowance, it needs to be overhauled. If the Minister could respond to that, I would be grateful.

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