Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. The Government is not opposing this motion put forward by the Regional Group and I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate.

The Government is very aware of the valuable work being carried out by family carers and this is evidenced by the extensive measures that have been taken to support carers in recent years. The approach to date has been targeted and has involved increased payment rates, in conjunction with earnings disregard increases and targeted cost-of-living lump sum and double payments. This approach was maintained as part of budget 2024 and the Government will not be found wanting on 1 October when delivering the 2025 budgetary package.

I have listened to the inputs from many Deputies. While some of them have called for a form of payment for caring or a participation income, carer’s allowance is not the appropriate vehicle through which to address this issue. As the Minister for Social Protection has made clear on several occasions in this House, any such proposal for a payment for caring would fall outside the scope of the social welfare system. As mentioned in the opening statement, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has established an interdepartmental working group with the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to examine and review the system to means-test the carer’s payment. The group will report on its findings in quarter 4 of this year. The outcome of this and other work regarding broader means tests taking place in the Department will help inform any future decisions regarding any changes to the carer’s payment, including the carer’s allowance.

It is also important to acknowledge the range of other supports for carers that are provided by the Department of Social Protection which are not means-tested but, rather, based on a needs assessment, such as the carer’s support grant, carer’s benefit and the domiciliary care allowance. The carer’s support grant is a payment for all carers, even those who are not in receipt of the carer’s allowance. It can be claimed by carers regardless of their means or other social insurance contributions. The Minister for Social Protection increased the grant as part of budget 2021 to €1,850, its highest ever rate. The grant was paid on Thursday, 6 June to more than 127,000 carers who are in receipt of the grant in respect of some 140,000 carees and at an estimated cost of €275 million.

Carer’s benefit is based on social insurance contributions. It is a very effective payment for people who are required to leave the workforce or reduce their working hours to care for a person who is in need of full-time care. It is payable for a period of up to two years for each care recipient and is estimated to cost almost €58 million per annum.

The domiciliary care allowance is payable to a parent or guardian in respect of a child who has a severe disability and requires continual or continuous care and attention substantially over and above the care and attention usually required by a child of the same age. As part of budget 2024 we increased the payment by an additional €10, bringing it to €340 per month. This monthly payment has increased cumulatively by €30.50 under this Government’s expenditure in 2024 and is estimated to cost almost €274 million.

The Minister for Social Protection has met with and listened to families of very sick children throughout the country and heard about the financial stress they have experienced while their children were undergoing medical treatment. She has made a number of changes to this payment, including extending the period during which domiciliary care allowance can be paid to children in hospital from three to six months. The domiciliary care allowance is now available for babies who remain in acute hospital care after birth for a period of 18 months. Although these are relatively small changes, they have meant a significant amount to the families who are thrust into these very difficult situations.

While the focus of today's debate is the carer’s allowance, I am sure everybody in the House would agree that access to services and wider supports are also crucially important. Carers often have more wide-ranging and broader needs, including respite care, homecare hours and access to disability services. In this regard, the Government is committed to a continued improvement in the delivery of services. The Government has made a number of commitments in this area specifically for carers. The programme for Government commits to delivering a carer guarantee to provide a core basket of services to carers across the country regardless of where they live. Annual funding of €2 million has been provided since budget 2021 towards delivering the care guarantee, providing a more standard package of support for family carers in every region, in tandem with the community and voluntary sector. A sum of €1.9 million of this funding has been channelled to the service level agreement with Family Carers Ireland, while the remaining €100,000 is supporting the operation of professionally moderated online family care support groups through Care Alliance Ireland. Under this service level agreement with the HSE, Family Carers Ireland is providing community and individual support across five areas of activity, including intensive and emergency support, education and training and a free careline.

The programme for Government also commits to extending free GP care to carers in receipt of the carer’s support grant. Since September 2018, individuals in receipt of either a full- or half-time carer’s allowance or benefit are automatically eligible for a GP visit card. As of 1 July 2024, more than 7,407 persons in receipt of either full- or half-time carer’s allowance or benefit have GP visit card eligibility. More than 2 million people, or more than 40% of the population, currently have access to free GP care through either the medical or GP visit cards.

Respite care may involve providing alternative family or institutional care for older people or people with physical or intellectual disability, mental health conditions, chronic conditions, palliative care needs or addiction to enable the carer to take short breaks or holidays or respite. It is recognised that family individuals have different needs and, therefore, investment in a range of respite options is required. Respite may be provided in the community, within the person's own home, the HSE residential care settings by agreement with voluntary organisations or by contracted private facilities. It may involve day or overnight respite. More than €62 million euros in funding has been provided annually to provide respite-based beds in older people’s services. In 2023, respite was provided to approximately 9,200 older people.

As regards today's debate and on competing demands, as I have previously said, the Government has worked and continues to work to improve supports for carers and those they care for. However, there are a lot of competing demands across government, particularly at budget time, which means it is not always possible to do all the things we would like to do. Maintaining social welfare rates at an adequate rate within the fiscal resources available to the Government is an ongoing process and is guided by evidence on supporting those who are most in need. The priority is to support people trying to make ends meet and to support the most vulnerable in our society. While, of course-----

See this speech in context