Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I strongly support the call for a guillotine not to be imposed on this very substantial Bill but I want to go back to the issue of carers, which was raised earlier. In reply to Deputy Cairns, the Taoiseach quoted a lot of figures but made no reference to the level of need. Here are some more figures. Some 72% of family carers get no respite at all. Only one in four family carers get the carer's allowance. Some 50% of family carers have no choice but to pay privately for therapies, while the other 50% go on long waiting lists. Will the Taoiseach make time available this week for us to have a debate on how the enormous needs of carers can be met within a reasonable timescale?

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