Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister on her initiative of bringing in a pension for those on carer's allowance, but I would like to see progress on two other programme for Government commitments. I refer to the proposal to extend free GP care to those on the carer's support grant and to develop a carer's guarantee that will provide a core basket of services across the country. I ask the Minister to sit down with her ministerial colleagues to develop that. What we need at local level is a family care partnership for family carers where they can register, share information and get flexible support. That is a missing piece, not unlike the community welfare service. That sort of flexibility is not there to support family carers.

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