Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an nGrúpa Reigiúnach agus le Cáit Nic Amhlaoibh mar gheall ar an obair atá déanta acu ar an rún seo. I thank the Regional Group and Cáit Nic Amhlaoibh for their work on the motion. Aontú supports the end of the means test for the carer's allowance. The reason we support it is that, no matter what background one is from or whether one is rich or poor, there is a sacrifice, hard work and opportunity lost in providing care for somebody else. It is really important to recognise that from the State's perspective. One in eight people in the State give care to someone else. This is an enormously valuable, and often selfless, role and action. It has an enormous benefit for the individual who is cared for, but it also has an enormous benefit to the State. The State saves billions of euro because it does not have to provide the care being provided by the caregivers in this situation. Those who are providing care for a loved one, those who have given up a career or sacrificed their social lives for the purpose of caring for a loved one, deserve to be paid for the work they are doing.

The reality is that the majority of family carers in this country are women. The reality is that there are women in this country who are being denied a carer's allowance because of their husband's wages. That is the situation that exists. In reality, the means test for carers is actually hurting women. That is a really important point to make. Imagine a woman in an abusive relationship who is caring for her child 24-7. She may never see a penny from her husband's income and a means test on her carer's allowance is actually denying her financial independence in this situation. It has a real negative effect on her ability to be independent within society.

According to parliamentary questions tabled by Aontú, 72,440 people have had their carer's allowance removed in the past decade. That is a startling figure. In my own county, 2,328 people had their carer's allowance removed. Some of those cases involved people who have passed away, etc., but there is no doubt that in many of those situations incomes have improved or changed and, as a result, people have fallen out of the net and lost the carer's allowance. Another aspect of the carers allowance means test is that it has a downward pressure on families' ability to gain an income. If a person's partner is getting more hours at work or has an opportunity to progress within a company and get a promotion and perhaps a pay rise, in many cases the person will have to make a decision on the finances and refuse the opportunity, not do the extra hours or take the promotion or progress within the job. In many situations, carers, many of whom are women, would love to do part-time work for their own self-expression, to get out of the house, meet new people, engage with society and be productive in many ways. Again, decisions will have to be made not to proceed in that manner because there is a penalty in doing so. The Government will say that it will cut the person's carer's allowance if he or she does those few extra hours of work in the week. It is an extremely difficult situation for many families. It has a downward pressure on those families in terms of income and it also means that many people, especially women, lose their independence economically as a result.

We are coming to this Regional Group motion in the same year that we had the carers' referendum at the start of March. In those referendums, the Government said there would be a new dawn for carers. It spent €25 million on a referendum to convince us it meant business in terms of really delivering for carers. Here is an opportunity for the Government to put its money where its mouth is in those terms. It seems to me that the Government is refusing to do so. While the Government is not going to oppose the Regional Group's motion, it does feel extremely cynical that the Government will not oppose it because that would be a very unpopular thing to do, but the Government is not saying it will fully implement the heart and soul of what is sought in the motion.

I ask the Minister of State to reconsider and to make sure that a proper plan of action is put in place to get rid of the means test for carer's allowance.

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