Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, and I thank Deputy Tully for bringing this motion to the floor today. I would like to say I am shocked by the figures in the Family Carers Ireland report, but in all good conscience I cannot say that. As Sinn Féin spokesperson for older people, I know only too well how much these selfless people do and how poorly valued they feel, especially when considering the millions they save the State every single year by caring for their elderly, disabled and vulnerable loved ones. Most of the care in these situations is being provided by women. Each of these carers is an individual person with a life they could lead, a job they could take, and a career they could have awaiting them if they were not a carer. They are also individuals who, when being assessed for a pension entitlement, often find themselves short of the required contributions because they were a carer.

Carers are individuals until it comes to applying for the carer's allowance. Suddenly, they are now part of a household and the household income is the benchmark that decides their entitlement. The average carer's allowance is €249 per week, with 35 hours of care having to be provided for that. It is the princely sum of €7.11 per hour, with the sad reality that most carers give care for many more hours than that. That is not even close to the minimum standard of living or even survival levels. How devaluing is that? The carer is a person doing a job caring for the vulnerable person, but the value of their work and dedication is determined by household income and not for their individual effort of work. To add insult to injury, a massive 72% of these people have never received respite. A total of 69% of them are struggling to make ends meet, with some even having to choose whether they eat or heat. It is a disgraceful indictment of Government policy.

Carers are sick and tired of platitudes and empty words from Government. They do not need another promise. They need proper support, recognition and remuneration for the sacrifices they have made to be carers for their loved ones. What we need is urgent reform of the carers scheme, relaxation of the means test for carer's allowance, an increase to the income thresholds, and a widening of the eligibility criteria to include the self-employed.

We discussed the housing adaptation earlier. I want to finish on this . The Minister of State spoke a minute ago about support for the carers. That in itself tells us there is a problem, if the Government has to support them with extras.

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