Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the increase in the income disregard for the carer’s allowance announced in the budget. I, like many colleagues from throughout the House, lobbied extensively on this, so it is a move I warmly welcome. I note the interdepartmental working group and review the Minister mentioned. Like many others, I met representatives of Family Carers Ireland ahead of the budget. The best way to support family carers, as the Minister will know, is to work towards the phasing-out of a means test over the next four years, and I hope that whoever is in government at that point will replace the carer's allowance with a participation income.

I welcome also the €400 one-off payment for those in receipt of the carer's support grant and the domiciliary care allowance, but this increase was nowhere near enough. As I have said previously, the Government refusing to make the increases permanent is an example of electioneering. The domiciliary care allowance and the carer's allowance should both have been increased to €325, an ask from Family Carers Ireland that I support, and I will push for those important and permanent increases for the 9,000 carers in Clare.

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