Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is fairly straightforward what we are asking for here and I welcome the fact the Government is not opposing this. If we are talking about carer's allowance, it is quite straightforward. We need to have an element of flexibility, and whether we are talking about the time someone spends on education or working, 18.5 hours with no element of flexibility is not working for many. We know there has to be some element of loosening-up of the means test threshold and even beyond that, because we know this is the only direction this can work.

As has been said by many, a huge amount of work is done by carers which we could not afford as a State if we did not have those people who do that huge work. I commend Family Carers Ireland and also the likes of Inclusion Louth, which has done a huge amount of work and advocacy over the years. I know the Minister of State has himself engaged on respite care in a huge way, and we all know the huge work that has been done, whether we are talking about Maria Goretti or Anam Cara. It is making sure we can deliver what is necessary, and that guarantee we are talking about with regard to respite is something that needs to be followed up.

I am going to cut straight to the fact that 34% of carers said the accommodation is not suitable to meet the needs of the person they care for.

We know we have dealt with these issues. We know the housing adaptation grants are being reviewed and we know what actually needs to happen. The Government needs to follow up in this regard. We could talk about disabilities here for the next four hours but I do not have any time left so I will let it go.

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