Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion, which takes an overarching view on the absolute need to provide greater supports to people with disabilities and carers. It is also very interesting and timely to see that today, IBEC issued a detailed report entitled Better Care Better Business. Many of the recommendations in the IBEC report are very similar to those in the Sinn Féin proposal. I note the Government has not opposed the motion. I wonder why that is the case. I might come to that later, but there seems to be broad acceptance that many of the proposals in this motion are also contained in the IBEC report. Given that the Government is not opposing the motion, it therefore makes sense that the proposals would be implemented.

As somebody who either chaired or co-chaired the European Parliament Interest Group on Carers for 14 years and co-chaired it here in the Dáil, and as an honorary member of Eurocarers, I have always said that we need to see a paradigm shift in how we deal with care in our society. Care is not an add-on. Care is central to our lives, from the very beginning to the end. Society, as we have constructed it, could not function without care provision being at its core. For too long, care happened behind the closed doors of the family home, with little support, largely invisible and hugely undervalued. While that has changed to some extent, the burden of care still falls very heavily on families due to inadequate financial supports, respite provision and services.

In the few minutes I have left, I will concentrate on two or three issues, the first of which is the need to provide a statutory home care scheme similar to the fair deal scheme. This was promised in the programme for Government. Where is it? Why has it not happened? People want to live in their own homes for as long as possible. That care needs to be placed on a statutory footing as an entitlement. That is essential. I do not know what the figures are but in my opinion such a scheme would be more cost-effective and probably cost the State far less than the fair deal scheme.

Second, the carer's allowance should never be means tested. A family carer in County Sligo described the process to me many years ago as the "mean test". Support for carers should be based on the care they provide - full-time care to a person who needs full-time care - and not on the income of the household. It is anti-woman, anti-man and anti-family.

We also have the situation where families are granted care hours of a half hour in the morning and again in the evening. They often wait ages to get it. Then they do not get what was allocated. If a carer is out sick, on holidays or not available, nobody turns up. As far as respite is concerned, my office staff inquired about it today, by chance. Does the Minister know what they were told? They were told that because of the winter plan, there are no respite beds for the months of January, February and March. That is incredible but this is what my office was told. How are families supposed to manage this? They were specifically told it was because of the winter plan and yet carers need respite and very often do so in emergency situations.

Finally, I asked the Minister earlier why he has not opposed this motion from Sinn Féin. Obviously, there is a lot of good stuff here that all of us would support but I think it is partly due to the fact that we are having a referendum on Friday. What matters is not "striving" to deliver, because that is a word that is not justiciable and will be meaningless in the Constitution. What matters is the delivery of services, respite and support. That is what matters to family carers and nothing else. Tonight, we see the Minister does not oppose the many really good solutions here. However, up to now, he has not delivered to the extent he needs to. Many people watching and thinking about how they are going to vote on Friday will say that not opposing and coming forward with proposals tonight is too late.

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