Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Regional Group on giving us the opportunity to discuss this. The issue of carer's allowance is something on which every TD and Member of Parliament has been inundated, probably for years now, by families with people with disabilities, or those with a relative who has an operation, comes home from hospital and needs constant care. As was said, most of the people doing the care are female and are caring for the people they love. They are caring for a sibling, or an elderly parent or child. In many of those cases, they would do it even if money were taken off them, never mind if they got money. That needs to be recognised. This care comes out of an absolute commitment to a person who is central to a carer's life. We all deal with such carers, particularly those who care for an adult child with disabilities who they have brought into the world, and have kept and looked after. They fear the day they will pass away and what will happen to that child and how that child will manage. The trauma of all that is something that has to be recognised.

People have talked about the notion of respect, compassion and all of that towards people who provide this magnificent service, which the State would have to provide if they were not there to do it. At the base of it all, there has to be a recognition that people need to get a decent income that they can manage and survive on. I have dealt with a number of people. One lady has been caring for a child for the past 25 years at this stage. She is not entitled to the full carer's allowance because her husband works and an income is coming into the house, naturally enough. It causes such stress and hardship on that woman. I have seen her age significantly over the past decade because the child she cares for is deteriorating continuously. It is the worry about all of that which is putting such a plight on her.

The idea that the State has a role to play in ensuring that we respect people is fine. We very often hear lots of words about how people need to be looked after and all of that. Ultimately, however, the way the State can provide for people is to ensure that it provides financially for their support. The notion of carer's allowance and carer's benefit, and the amount of money put into those, is simply not adequate to reflect that support. We need to ensure that happens.

The Minister of State needs to listen to what is happening here. We need to ensure that we provide for people into the future. The budget coming up in the next couple of days needs to deliver.

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